


The Legacy

by Ahn-Li Steffraini (komiiro)



Series: Doctor Who: Legacy (Fan Web Series) [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Female Character In Command, Future Doctor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-26
Updated: 2011-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-17 07:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 145,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/174353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/komiiro/pseuds/Ahn-Li%20Steffraini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fan Series, narrative prose based.  After the 13th Doctor's death, another rose to take up his legacy and the TARDIS.  This is the story of Susan Foreman and her life after she became the Doctor in her 2nd incarnation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Female of the Species

**Author's Note:**

> Webispodes are written in prose/novelization format and archived on both fanfiction.net and their own site. There are no plans (yet) to actually create a live-action or animated fan-series. That will likely depend on reader response. Like the actual canonical series, we will also follow a 13 main episode chain with a "special".
> 
> This story has been beta'ed by (on Livejournal) TempusDominus10, aka Chellus on FF.N, but she didn't start until Chapter Three, so any mistakes in Chapters 1 & 2 are mine alone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is kidnapping the former, living, companions of the Doctor after they have separated from him. Stymied by the disappearances, Jack Harkness calls for the Doctor but is also taken. Confused and alarmed, the companions compare notes when a new companion is thrown in with them, someone Jack has never met... nor heard of... which is unusual for Torchwood... and she isn't what she seems but is definitely what they're looking for.

It was often said that a quiet day in the Hub meant all hell was breaking loose elsewhere.  For a long time Jack Harkness refused to believe it.  He still didn't.  Although Mickey Smith replaced Tosh at the massive computer bank, even he was almost dozing at his desk.  Alonso sort of replaced Ianto... and Gwen was still Gwen.  They were a man down as Dr. Martha Jones, who while being married to Mickey, had taken a sabbatical to go back to practicing medicine as a family physician in London.

Not that he blamed her.

Being in Torchwood for the past few years was almost boring.

And, in retrospect, it wasn't that his new team replaced the old as no one could or should.  They were their own people.  Mickey was still as funny to be around as he always was.

It seemed like Mickey went from being drowsy to being awake in less than a second as he watched the news on his computer.  Jack saw the change in wakefulness and came over as Mickey yanked out the cord to his headphones so that the broadcast could be heard by everyone.

"... London police are confused and stymied by the disappearance of Dr. Martha Jones earlier this week.  All that is known is that on Monday morning she went to work as usual, and then simply vanished without a trace.  If anyone has seen or heard from Dr. Jones, or has any information, they are asked to call police with what they have..."

Jack watched in silence, and he was opening his mouth to say something about getting the information, which Mickey had already obtained by hacking the database, and even then what he could have said afterwards was cut off as the phone began to ring.  With a vague confused look on his face, he picked it up, "Cardiff Plas Tourist Center."

"Uh, actually, I'm looking for Torchwood," came the man's voice.

"You've found it, we're Torchwood... who is this and how did you get this number?" he asked.

"My name is Mr. Pond... and my daughter and her husband are missing. I don't know why, but she said that if anything ever happened to them to call... well... someone I can't get a hold of right now because frankly I don't know how... and then someone suggested you."

"Me?" asked Jack, puzzled. What the hell is going on here?

"Yes, you see, long story short of it, a few years back my daughter and son in law evidently got tangled up with this strange fellow in a blue police box... and..."

 _Wait... what?_ "Back up, did you say a blue police box?" asked Jack as suddenly the puzzle pieces slid together. "Excuse me sir, but are you saying your daughter and son in law travelled with a man simply known as 'the Doctor'?"

"Yes!" exclaimed the man. "Oh, I wasn't sure if you'd believe me and I had no idea what to do."

"Well, I traveled with him myself. When did your daughter and son in law go missing? When did you last see either of them?"

"Day before last," he answered, sounding far calmer now that he had reached someone who knew what to do.

If he only knew. Jack wasn't sure what he could do, if anything, if it involved the doctor. And wasn't he supposed to be dead? Wilf had been certain that the Doctor had taken enough radiation to kill him stone dead, and from the way the Doctor had ranted it sounded like it might have been a final death. "When was the last time you saw this Doctor?"

"Two years ago, around that. When my daughter got married. Damndest thing – he showed up in the police box, in the middle of the reception. One minute there was nothing there and the next it was, and he came out, cool as a cucumber. Strange, but decent enough fellow."

"Was he a tall man, with brown hair?"

"Well, not tall, but not short. Brown hair yes."

"Skinny as a rake?"

"Oh no!"

Different Doctor again, mused Jack. Wilf had been wrong, thankfully. Evidently, contrary to even what the Doctor himself had thought, there had been another regeneration in him. Now the count was up to eleven doctors. "Okay, leave this with me, but also report them missing to the police... don't make any mention of the Doctor or his box, okay? Maybe it's not related but if you mention him they won't do a damn thing for you. I'll look into things that could be related to him."

"Okay, I will do that. Can you keep us informed on your end?"

"I will most definitely try," answered Jack. "Good day sir."

Knowing the conversation to be over Mr. Pond hung up the phone. Jack leaned back in his chair. "This isn't happening," he shook his head, then hit a button on the phone.  "Mickey, we have a problem."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

Martha sat up slowly, waking again for the fourth time since she had been taken.  She scratched the ground where she was keeping track of just how long it had been so far.  Four days.  The other two watched her cautiously.  They had been brought in yesterday and they kept to themselves on the other side of the barrel that their captors had left them to burn wood to keep warm at night and during the day.  With a sigh she looked around.

It was a warehouse, of that she was most certain.  It was also close to some sort of shipping lane - she could hear seagulls and occasionally the blare of a fog horn or container ship horn as it pulled into harbour.  She could not hear any sounds of water, though, which led her to believe that they were close, but not right on the water.  Out of the way and likely in an area not normally used.  All the better - even if they screamed they would not be heard.

It was still freezing cold and they could see their breath in the air each time they breathed.  Finally, mostly tired of the silence, she asked, "So, where do you come from?"

The red headed woman looked from the man to her, and when she spoke she had a Scottish bur.  "Leadworth.  You?"

"London," answered Martha.  "I'm Martha.  Dr. Martha Jones."

This got a raised brow from the man and the woman grinned.  "I'm Amy Pond-Williams and this is my husband Rory Williams," she answered.  "Rory is a nurse.  And... well... I'm a housewife now but I used to be a kissogram."

"Ohh, that's neat," said Martha.  "Any kids?"

"Yeah, one," answered Amy, her smile falling off.

"Don't worry, Amy, I'm sure your Mum has her handled, yeah?" said Rory finally.  "Never thought we'd be important enough to warrant a kidnapping."

"I haven't any," said Martha.  "But I do have a husband who is probably worried sick about me, as well as my family.  No matter what, and much as this place isn't the greatest, it is nice to have met you."

"Oh, the same here," said Rory, with a half-hearted laugh.  "We're kind of used to meeting wonderful people in shitty places.  Haven't happened in a while, but, in a way like old times even if the company is different again."

"Yeah, it always happened with the Doctor," said Amy.

Martha blinked and felt hope surge, even as she remembered with sadness the distant good-bye from the Doctor.  She and Mickey had been chasing a Sontoran rogue through a very rough part of London when the Sontoran had gotten the drop on them instead.  Except... the Doctor had shown up.  She could see, with her trained eye, how very, very ill and thin he was.  How old the eyes were in comparison to the last time she had seen him.  And then he was gone.  She and Mickey knew what it meant - that was a good-bye and it was meant to be permanent.

They had tried to find him, but with reports filtering in of similiar sightings and then Wilf Mott telling them of the dying Doctor and his not so happy prophecy they had all come to the same horrific conclusion.

The Doctor had come to say one final good-bye and then gone to die by himself.  And then he never came back.  Then again, how was a dead man to come back?

For a long time Martha had cried herself to sleep over that.  He got a good-bye but no one else did didn't leave anything for closure.  Like he had come into their lives he left again.

But now these two claimed to have also traveled with him.  "Was he a tall skinny bloke in a pinstripe suit?" she asked, her eyes brightening.  "I also travelled with him.  In the TARDIS... until a few years ago.  I thought he died... oh tell me he's still alive!"

Amy and Rory blinked.  "No, he... well, he was in the remains of what could have been a suit when I met him, but no, he always preferred tweed and bowties.  He wasn't tall or skinny, just kinda average," answered Amy.  "And the TARDIS as in the blue police box on the outside, and a whole lot bigger on the inside?"

Martha blinked.  "Well, that's mostly right," she answerd, then remembered what Mickey had told her about Rose's first Doctor and the changed face and tastes.  He did it again.  "But, I suppose mine came before yours.  He still talk a mile a minute?"

Amy grinned, then answered, "Oh yes."

"So, he's the common denominator," said Rory suddenly.  "We're not the targets... he is."

Martha and Amy fell quiet, realizing the same thing.  Now all that remained was to find out how long it would take before he did show up and then... what would come next?

* * * * * *

"So, with you and Alonso going out in the field, what do you want me and Gwen to do?" asked Mickey.

Jack took a moment from packing his Torchwood SUV and looked over to where Alonso was also loading up his.  "I want you and Gwen to look into his other Companions, those known, and see if anyone else has gone missing.  Mickey, hack into UNIT.  I know he had something to do with UNIT and they have more complete records of him and what he did there - not to mention who he tended to run with.  See if those line up with any other missing persons case.  Not to mention," he leaned in close at this, "See if you can get anything on him at all.  Something tells me that if this goes south Dr. Jones is going to be practicing medicine because we both know what he can be like when others are in danger."

Mickey nodded.  "You got it, boss."

"Alonso, you go to London and see if you can retrace Martha's steps to the point of disappearance.  Take anything you can for evidence as the police likely missed anything alien as just that.  Call in when you find something or when noon rolls around, whatever comes sooner.  You don't call in I'm sending out Gwen after you," he ordered.  "Got it?"

"Yeah!" called back Alonso as he climbed into the driver's side, waving as he left.

With a final nod and a wave, Jack was also gone in the second SUV, heading up the ramp and out as Gwen and Mickey watched.  Finally, with a sigh, Mickey walked through the tunnel back to the Hub to do as Jack wished him to.  Gwen went into the office and began sorting through paperwork.

Quiet descended back onto the Hub, only now there was a buzz of activity.

* * * * * *

Jack pulled onto the country's version of a main road and began heading to Leadworth.  He was accelerating when he saw it in the corner of his vision.  With a surprised gasp, he slowed back down and pulled over.

In the middle of a grassy field sat the TARDIS.  Jack looked one way and then the other before taking the SUV out of gear and getting out.  He closed the door, pulled out his gun.  While he knew the Doctor didn't like guns, the shared good-bye stories of a few years ago had him both spooked and suspicious.  It wouldn't be the first time someone stole the TARDIS or kidnapped or even gravely injured the Doctor.  And, by all rights, the Time Lord was suspected to be dead and most decidedly not travelling the universe and time.  Jack walked around the blue police box and then put a hand cautiously on it.  He could hear a mechanical hum, which was expected, even if the pitch was a little off.

Then again, if the Doctor was dead or dying that was to be expected.  There was a faint mechanical vibration.  Again... not too out of the ordinary considering the circumstance, even if it wasn't quite right.  Something seemed to be missing and that put him on high alert.  Finally he put his hand on the door, grasping the gun firmly, and pushed it open.

"What the hell?" he said as his eyebrows knit.

It was just as it appeared.  A wooden blue police box.  Not the TARDIS at all - although for some reason there was a generator within and the smell of diesel hit him.  That was what was causing the hum and the vibration.  The missing link was the telapathic and empathic nudges.

Jack backed away, instantly on high alert, every instinct screamed the word trap.

He was too right, as he caught motion behind him and whirled around.  Something sank into his neck and he put a hand up to pull out the dart that had already dispensed whatever had been in it.  His muscles relaxed on their own accord and he slumped to the ground.  Everything was quickly losing focus and he tried vainly to stay awake long enough to call for help or warn Alonso.

At least he knew how those Companions had been caught... likely the same way.  They had likely seen what they had thought to be the TARDIS and when they went to investigate this happened.

Cunning bastards... was his last thought before everything slid away into black.

* * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * *

Alonso knocked on the door to the house in London.  It took a few moments but a woman with coffee coloured skin and tightly curly hair answered.  She was into her middle age, perhaps a bit older, but she wasn't old either.  "Hello, my name is Alonso... I'm from Torchwood Three out of Cardiff.  I'm here investigating Martha Jones' disappearance."

For a long moment she was silent.  "Torchwood."

"Yeah."

"Where she worked before," asked the woman.

"Yeah," he answered, only he dragged it out.

"Come in then," she moved out of the way.  "Martha didn't talk about Torchwood much.  But she wasn't the first to work for it.  Her cousin Adeola did as well... and she also didn't come back one day.  However, this is the first time anyone has ever investigated it."

"We already know what happened to Adeola," said Alonso.  "I'm sorry.  However, Martha is another matter and she isn't yet beyond help.  When was the last time you heard from her?"

"Four days ago, in the morning.  She called to say good morning," answered the woman.  "It's not like her.  I know my daughter.  She wouldn't just take off."

"This may come as a funny question, have you heard from the Doctor lately?" asked Alonso.

For a very long moment she was silent and then her whole demeanor changed.  At first he saw rage building and then she sighed.  "I shouldn't be angry at the poor man.  Especially not since... anyway.  Enough of that.  No I haven't.  Not in years.  Why... does he have something to do with this?"

"We aren't sure yet," answered Alonso.  "Maybe."

"Well, he wouldn't just take her, if that's what you're implying."

"Oh, no... I was hoping you'd say you had heard from him.  Then we could say where she is and not have to worry.  Well, too much," he answered with a smile.  "Then we'd know that they'd simply got caught up in something.  But, if you haven't I have to write that lead off."

The woman smiled finally.  "Good, because, much as I disliked him at first, he's a good man.  He'd never hurt her and he'd likely do something drastic if something did happen to her.  No chance you haven't heard from him lately?"

"No.  That would make this so much simpler," he admitted.

* * * * * * *

Alonso continued to follow her steps.  From her mother's house he then went to her new flat.  It was far larger and better placed than her last.  Alonso picked the lock and let himself in.  He took pictures, although, as far as he could see nothing seemed out of place.  But he wouldn't leave anything to chance.  Maybe Mickey would know something.

He relocked the door, making sure he left without leaving any trace.

From there he drove the exact same route she took to work, according to the CCTV that Mickey had hacked.  Since she had disappeared it had been closed.  Again, he investigated.  This time he didn't break in but used his clearance at Torchwood to get her secretary to open the doors for him.

He then tracked her back the same route.

Perhaps it was in the way he drove that gave him another angle, but he came to a stop at the gravel clearing.  On the CCTV footage, this area wasn't covered very well.  It was one of the few dead spots.  He pulled over and walked around.  There was something in the air, something that pervaded the stones.

One small area seemed more indented, more compacted that others.  He couldn't see a very clear outline but it appeared to be square.  He knelt down, taking a picture of the area as well from a few angles.  Using flagged sticks he traced the barely perceptable square and took more pictures.  As he was kneeling close to the square, he could smell something like... "Diesel fuel?" he wondered aloud.

Alonso took a sample of the rocks and dirt anyway.  He was handy in a lab.  Maybe it was what he suspected, but he couldn't tell.  It was too faint.  He took all the little flags back and stood up, cracking his back as he stretched before he walked back to his SUV.  For a moment he felt watched, and he looked around before quickly getting back into the SUV and driving away.

* * * * * * * *

Mickey sat down after getting another coffee.  It seemed to be the only thing he lived on some days.  It was then that he noticed that his comparison program had hits on it.  He sat down quickly and brought up the information.

"Shit!" he swore, startling Gwen at the same time, and grabbed his phone just as it started to ring.

* * * * * * * *

Martha was just about asleep when the cage clanged open and two more people were thrown inside.  She stood up quickly as she recognized one but not the other, although she recognized the uniform of UNIT.  The captors were getting bold.  The second person looked up and saw Martha, ran over and hugged her tightly.  "Oh God, Martha and I ever glad to see you still alive!" exclaimed Sarah Jane Smith.  "Mike, this is Dr. Martha Jones..."

"Pleased to meet you, even if the situation isn't the greatest," said Martha as she held out her hand.

"Mike Yates," he introduced himself as he shook her hand.

"UNIT?" asked Martha.  "They're getting bold."

"What is this place?" asked Sarah Jane.

"As far as I can figure they're targetting the Doctor," answered Martha, as she then introduced Amy and Rory.  "This is Amy Pond and her husband Rory Williams - they also traveled with the Doctor.  I traveled with the Doctor, and so did you.  Mike..."

"No, sorry, I didn't travel with him but I did work closely with him at the same time Sarah Jane did."

"Close enough," came Rory's voice.

"Indeed," agreed Sarah Jane.  "Have they made any demands?"

"Not even talked to us since we've been thrown into this cage," answered Amy, then she raised her voice.  "Now that we figured it all out, it'd be nice to have something else to keep us all warm!"

She received no answer.

"So... we're bait and they've got one very old and wily fish to try to catch," said Mike.

* * * * * * * *

Alonso held the mobile phone to his ear as he waited for either Gwen or Mickey to answer the phone.  It was well past noon, and while he had reported in, he had not been able to get a hold of Jack to see if he wanted back-up in Leadworth.  He was done in London and on his way back to Cardiff.  Finally Mickey picked up.  "Bloody hell, mate, you a mind reader?" demanded Mickey.

"No," answered Alonso.  "I'm done here.  You hear from Jack?"

"No, I haven't.  Why?  Haven't you?" asked Mickey.

"I wouldn't have called in again if I had, now would I?" asked Alonso, rolling his eyes.  "You get any hits?"

"Yeah, you ain't going to like either.  Neither will Jack.  I'll get Gwen to call him," answered Mickey.

"So will I," answered Alonso quietly as he hung up and began to try to call Jack again.

* * * * * * * *

In a field between Cardiif and Leadworth, a square impression made the grass flat, the ground indented.  A phone, and a headset, lay abandoned in the square indentation, and it rang with no one to answer.  Just as forlorn and abandoned lay a futuristic watch like device and a gun.

The black Torchwood SUV remained at the side of the road.

Just as Jack Harkness had left it before walking into the field.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * *

It was a quiet corner.  The alley way mostly abandoned, and in an area that the CCTV just didn't quiet catch.  The pilot had long since learned not to put it where the CCTV could see it appear.  It caused too much work for friends to erase evidence and simply would cause one too many questions to be asked.

As it was, if the right person was watching the little windstorm kicked up for no reason would have been suspicious anyway.  Still far more subtle than the entire thing coming into existance, but still.  Finally, in a groan and with a rythymic flash of white light it settled in the alley way and two people came around the corner.

One was a man in blue jeans, a brown leather bomber style motorcycle jacket and dark button up shirt which was open enough at the collar to show a black t-shirt underneath.  He wisely wore a pair of runners having long learned that he usually ended up running anyway.  He was neither tall nor short, but in between.  His hair was silver at the temples but dark brown otherwise, and his eyes were blue, and in the way he looked around showed a sharp intelligence.

The woman was petite, and she came up to his shoulder and that was including the three inch heels she wore with a confidence borne of long years of practice wearing heels, even if at the height they were a sensible heel as the boot was an English riding style in black leather and worn under a pair of modern cut with a small flare with a low rise jean.  She wore a white silk dress blouse that was not frilly in the least but was feminine in cut, and an olive green cotton blazer that was fitted to her.  Over this she wore a long brown trench coat and a dark brown knitted brown scarf.  Her dark hair was cut short and spiky in a modern women's cut and her skin seemed to be pale, almost as white as her shirt but with faintly healthy flush that suggested she just didn't get out in the sun much.  She had hazel eyes that were closer to gold than hazel, but still hazel enough that people didn't notice.  To protect her eyes against the sun she wore small lense sunglasses that were not a very dark tint, just enough to protect her eyes against the worst of the sun's glare.

The taller man was taking the lead of the conversation and every so often the woman would smile, if a bit sadly.

Moments later, another woman walked around the corner.  She was taller than the other and pretty as well, if older.  Her hair was long and her curly hair was curled so tight it appeared to almost bounce.  Her name was River Song and she was traveling with the other two.  In truth she had been traveling with the Doctor longer than the other one, but she didn't mind having the company every so often.  It helped to relieve the tension that still seemed to pervade the TARDIS since the Doctor had regenerated last.

She wasn't kidding herself.  She knew she wasn't sticking around very long this time.  She just hoped the next Doctor she met up with was a bit different, much as she loved each and every one she had met.

For a moment she watched the two walk farther away, and then she let them get out of sight.

A car went by, and all that remained moments later was the handbag River had been carrying, dropped to the sidewalk as if the owner had forgotten it.

The other woman from the TARDIS came back, almost as if she could sense something was wrong.  "River?" she called, confused.

The woman knelt at the bag, picking it up in alarm as the man came running up.  "Where's River?"

"Gone," answered the woman.

If the people who had taken were looking for the Doctor's attention, they now had it.

* * * * * * *

Jack hit the ground in the cage hard enough to bounce once and the door slammed shut.  Martha ran over and checked him over.  He hadn't died.  As far as she could see he was sleeping, but uninjured except for some bruising for hitting the ground as hard as he had.  Rory and Mike helped drag him over by the fire so that he wouldn't freeze and they waited for him to come around.  It didn't take long before he stirred and opened his eyes.  With a bit of a groan he said, "Martha... please tell me I haven't been captured and that I'm back in the Hub and so are you."

"Wish I could," she answered with a smile as he sat up.

He looked around and asked, "What the hell is this place?"

"Some sort of warehouse," answered Mike.

"You're UNIT," noticed Jack.  "I'd recognize those cute berets anywhere.  And who are these?"

"Any and Rory," answered Martha, schooling her expression.  "Jack... they traveled with the Doctor."

"Yeah, I know, Ms. Pond's father called Torchwood to report them missing," he answered, then he winked at Amy.  "Didn't tell me they were both cute though.  Doc has good taste."

"Jack!" came from both Sarah Jane and Martha, while Amy and Rory looked scandelised.

He was back to business immediately though.  "I thought he was supposed to be..."

Martha shook her head.  "I don't know but don't think for a second that I'm not glad to hear he's still alive somewhere.  I wish he would have come back though.  Just to say he was okay even."

"He's like that," snorted Sarah Jane.  "But you have a point.  This was a bit different."

"So, I found a blue box but it sure as hell wasn't the TARDIS.  It was a fake - facade with a generator in it to sound and feel like it on the outside.  Got tranked when I went to investigate it," said Jack.  "You guys?"

Martha nodded, "Me too."

There were shaking heads from the others.  Sarah Jane sighed.  "They likely just knew where we'd be."

"Rotten bastards," came Amy's voice.

Jack checked himself and sighed.  " _FUCK!_ " he shouted in frustration, and the others started at the vehemence.  "No Vortex Manipulator, no guns, no phone.  They stripped me of anything useful."

A clang was heard and the cage was opened again and before anyone could do anything a woman was thrown in.  This time Amy and Rory stood in shock.  They at least knew this one.  And if she was here - in this time and in this place - then so was the Doctor himself.  Rescue couldn't be that far off.  "River!" exclaimed Amy in relief as she hugged the older woman.  "Tell me you brought him with you."

For a moment River was confused and then she smiled.  "Amy and Rory.  Of course.  The girl who waited..."

"You're not the same River," said Rory.  "Amy, she doesn't know who we are.  She's a River from before she met us."

With a sad nod, River confirmed Rory's suspicion.  "But I am guessing by him you mean the Doctor, right?" asked River.  "Not far.  I was leaving the TARDIS and lost track of the Doctor for a second when they nabbed me.  Not seconds outside of it!  Won't take long to be found, I'd say."

* * * * * *

Alonso and Mickey stood in the grassy field where the other Torchwood SUV had been found.  Gwen stood by the police talking to them about what they had found and who had found it, as well as when.

Gwen walked over.  "It was found two hours ago by an elderly couple who live just up the road.  It was just as we see it now."

Alonso had the perimeter of the indentation flagged off and was taking pictures.  "It's exactly like where Martha went missing.  The size of the indent was the same, and do you smell that?" he asked.

"What is that?  Diesel?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah, I think so.  I'm taking a soil sample.  If the smell is still that strong chances are there'll be traces of it in the soil," answered Alonso.

"What do you make of it?" asked Mickey.

"Well, if you think about it, it's like someone is taking all the former Companions of the Doctor, right?" asked Alonso.  "Well, look at the size of the indent.  I don't know if you've ever seen the TARDIS but the indent is just about the right size, and shape, of the TARDIS.  I think that someone has been parking fake TARDISes, using maybe a generator - which would explain the diesel smell - and when a Companion sees it, hears the hum, they go to investigate and bingo!  They get nabbed."

Mickey thought for a moment and walked around the indent.  "It is the right size."

"So you have seen it?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah, once," answered Alonso.  "A few years ago."

"I haven't seen it in years, " remarked Mickey.

"Well, I have no bloody idea what the two of you are on about," said Gwen.  "Explain it later.  Get your evidence, let's release the scene and head back to the Hub.  I'm freezing."

* * * * * * *

The two left from the TARDIS wandered around Cardiff.  The Doctor was in a bit of a mood again and the other didn't want to disturb whatever thoughts the other was in.  Moments later it didn't matter as they were pulled into the same van that had taken River Song.  The Doctor saw little but heard the hiss of the drug as it entered.  Moments later neither the Doctor or the companion knew anything.

The trap snapped shut with the bait and the quarry both inside.

* * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * *

The next morning Martha did the same as she counted the six marks on the ground.  Jack had already woken first and had stoked the fire from the embers to a roaring fire, warming the area up.  As the others woke, they warmed the food and the water that had been left just inside the cage but outside of the ring of warmth.  "If not for the cage, it'd be like camping," remarked Amy.

She trailed off as the cage opened and another, completely unfamiliar to them all but for River was shoved in while the man, still unconscious, was dragged past them.  River stood up in alarm and screamed, "DOCTOR!"

Well, scratch not knowing if he was alive or dead, thought Martha.  But at the same time she ran over to the woman and turned her over.  Golden hazel eyes blinked up at her and for a moment she was sure she saw acute recognition in them, but it was soon flicked from one person to the other in quick succession.  River helped the woman up and over to the fire.  Jack used his coat to wrap around the other woman and then he startled.  "Hey, I know this coat," he said cheerfully.  "The Doc gave you his coat, the one Janis Joplin gave him."

For a moment she looked down and she was quiet, then she said, "So he did."

She was still looking around to each face with a very closed and even expression.  "So many taken.  Not going to be pleased about that," was her simple remark as she brushed off Jack's jacket to give it back to him and turning to the entrance of the cage where their captors were now sticking around.

One short, and male, scream was heard and both River and the woman, who hadn't still been introduced, stiffened.  The other woman stalked to the door of the cage, grasping the bars.  "Hey you!"

A gun clanged off the bars as the man hit it with the butt end of his rifle.  The woman moved back a few steps but paced like a lion in a cage.  Moments later the other, who was dressed in a suit and suit jacket came out.  He looked enraged.  He stalked up to the bars and demanded, "All right, a dirty trick that was.  We should have checked for two hearts first, seeing as he has had men on the TARDIS before... now where is the Doctor?"

The man was thrown in and River ran to him, as did Martha.  "He's not hurt bad," reassured their captor a bit coldly.  "Now, I know I only saw three of you come out.  Which means the Doctor is still inside that TARDIS of his.  Key, now."

"Why the hell should I?" demanded the woman before Jack or anyone else could open their mouths.  "If you know half as much as that stupid mind thinks it does, then you'd also know there would be no way the Doctor would give you access to something that can fuck around with the Time Stream."

"Maybe so," he answered.  "But he also wouldn't let you or any others be hurt.  Give me the key and no one else does.  That includes your pretty face."

"Don't be so stupid," she laughed bitterly.  "As if you could anyway."

"I could shoot you dead!"

"Oh, that's a very human thing to do.  Stupid men and their guns," she threw her hands up in the air.  "Of course, you feel so big and powerful right now, don't you?  We're in a cage and you have the guns.  Fish in a barrel.  Stupid apes."

Jack looked up sharply and to the back of the woman's head.  A ghost of a smile creeped onto his face.  _It wasn't possible... was it?_   But the tone, the bearing... everything was right.  Stupid apes.  He remembered another Doctor, one with a leather jacket and big ears, who loved to use that.  He looked at the jacket and his heart skipped a beat.  Of course he'd use that jacket when he could.  She was skinny enough to get away with it, even if it was longer than usual, a bit looser than usual.

How she ran in those heels was a mystery.

* * * * * * *

The three remaining members of Torchwood returned to the Hub in Cardiff.  Alonso had gone to the lab to organize the evidence with Gwen while Mickey was left to see if anything else had come up.  He checked his email and saw a link from the police in Cardiff.  He watched the CCTV of the woman being snatched off the sidewalk.  He back it up.

There.

A windstorm, a flash of light that was familiar in pattern.  Then a woman and a man came around the corner, followed by the kidnapped woman.  For a moment he saw the mouthed call of, "Doctor, wait!" and then the van snatched her.

The woman and man came back to see their friend was missing.

He followed breathlessly as they searched, then began to make their way towards the Plas.  _Jesus, he was coming for help_ , realized Mickey.  And then the same van snatched them.

Mickey's fingers flew as he followed the van from camera to camera as he tracked where it went.  Finally, after six days since Martha went missing they had a break.  A major break.  With a whoop, he pulled up the location using google maps and then called Alonso and Gwen.

They had a rescue op to mount.

* * * * * * *

The man who had captured them came back and paced outside.  The Doctor, whom Jack had figured to be the small dark haired woman matched his pacing.  "Now, it's clear that you're the first Companion here, my dear.  Where is the Doctor?"

"Maybe he's wandering and looking for us.  Does that scare you?" she asked.  "Who are you?  What do you want?"

"All in good time," he chuckled.  "The Doctor chose well this time.  All fire and intelligence, and beautiful as well.  What would he do if he came and found you mutiliated beyond recognition?"

"Have a problem with the Doctor then?" her eyes narrowed.

"Yes and no," he grasped the bars.  "I want the TARDIS, and to break him in two."

"Oh, I'm scared.  That small ape mind too much to grasp the basics of how to really woo a woman that you have to resort to fear.  Nice try though.  Try it with a bit of feeling," she answered sarcastically.

Finally, a vein ticked in the man's forehead.  "Bring her out.  Too bad.  I might have been bluffing but you have a mouth on you that might raise the other's morale a bit too high.  Maybe you're scarred face will reinforce just who is in control here."

She walked out proudly.  "Do your worst.  Just tell me one thing - when 'the Doctor' asks me who did it, I want to be able to tell him and then watch as the Oncoming Storm breaks over you."

The man began to change and mutate until he was a tentacled mass.  "Not even human!" she laughed.  "All right, you're no stupid ape.  I stand corrected.  Doesn't happen often."

She reached behind her.  At that moment the doors were kicked open and all hell broke loose.  The other men began to fire blindly as gunfire returned.  The woman kneeled, and in her hand was something the others recognized.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver.  The alien roared as she said, "One other thing.  When you didn't check him you also didn't check me.  I'm the one with two hearts - the one with the TARDIS.  I'm the Doctor."

She pressed the sonic screwdriver's button just as the alien reached out and slapped her into the wall.  Her head cracked loudly against the concrete bricks.  The sonic waves washed over him and it screamed in pain.  One of its guards blindly fired in fear as he realized his boss was an alien.  He missed, and since he had to leave his cover, he was shot by Mickey.

However, red blood blossomed and stained the Doctor's jacket as she slid down the wall, her eyes closing as she lost the grip on her sonic screwdriver.

Mickey and Alonso ran in.  "Martha, you all right?" he asked anxiously.

She nodded through the bars as they hugged.  "Just get us out of here.  Use the Doctor's sonic."

Mickey turned and saw the sonic on the ground.  "Bloody hell, she's been shot.  How's the Doctor?"

"He's not the Doctor!" shouted River.  "The woman is!"

Blinking, Mickey looked from the man in River's arms to the woman outside of the cage, and he saw the screwdriver not far from the woman's hands.  "What?" he asked in surprised but still picked up the sonic screwdriver.  "How the hell do you use this thing?"

River came up, took it from his hands and changed to to the right setting and unlocked the door.  "Like this.  Dr. Jones, could you please?"

Martha was aided shortly by Rory.

* * * * * * *

Martha walked into the infirmary to check on the Doctor, but was relieved to see that she was still sleeping comfortably, and that the wound appeared to be healing normally.  Breathing a sigh of relief she pulled the blankets back up over her chest and smoothed the hair out of the woman's face.

Not that there was a lot of hair.  The Doctor Martha knew, the tenth, had more hair than this one did as a woman, but it was loose curls and spiky in the back.  A modern cut, if still a bit wild.  Amy had brought in a change of clothes in the style this Doctor preferred – clean cut but shaped jackets in neutral olive greens or brown, white or cream dress shirt meant to be worn on the outside of her low rise boot cut jeans.  As usual, it was the shoes that broke the mold, this Doctor liked sandals, although the sandal was a rugged, outdoors style meant to take punishment... or to allow for running which the Doctor seemed to always do a lot of.  Either way the sandal wasn't exactly the same style of dress as the rest of the almost business outfit.  The jeans seemed to break from that mold, brought her down a formality that Martha wasn't used to.

She still wore a similar long brown jacket as the tenth, but it was obviously meant for her frame which was significantly shorter, but no less skinny, than the tenth.  She was petite, shorter than Martha by the same as Martha had been shorter than the tenth, and with her wispy frame made her look all the more fragile in the bed.

Martha turned as she saw Jack come into the infirmary as he stopped in front of the bed, “She looks so small in that bed.”

“She is small in that bed,” answered Martha.  “I'd be surprised if she's five foot anything.”

“Nah, she's at least five foot,” he said.  “I'd say between five foot two, maybe three, but no more than five foot four.  But she is the record breaker for being the smallest Doctor on our files.  Here.”

He handed her the files he had on the Doctor, the Time Lords and what little they knew of Gallifrey.  Martha put the binder on the desk and thumbed through it.  “It has plenty in here on what he's done, where's he gone in relation to Earth to this point, and what precious little we both know about him... I mean her... dammit... but nothing else.”

“Yeah, the Doc played it close to the vest,” mused Jack as he gazed down at her.  “I feel like I could break her in half but yet you know how tough she is, how tough she'd have to be.  I want to protect her but I know better – she's got far more years on all of us put together.  When did you say she'd be waking up?”

“Now you're just making feel old,” came the soft reply from the bed.

“I'd say now,” answered Martha with amusement as she came over, checking the Doctor's hearts and pulse rate.  “Good morning.  How are you feeling?”

“I'm fine,” she answered, and then she went to push herself up to sit and the pain in her shoulder knocked her flat on her back.  “Maybe I'll lay around a bit more.”

Martha rolled her eyes and Jack smothered a snicker, “If we didn't believe you were the Doctor before, we certainly do now.  Is fine a secret language for the complete opposite?”

What little smiled on the Doctor's face fell away.  “Don't do that.”

Martha blinked, “What?”

“Donna asked me that once, when... no, never mind, I'm all right,” the Doctor took a deep inhale, one half to steady herself against the pain, the other for the same reason but the pain was from memories.  Just as quickly, she seemed to bounce back, smiling, “So, Dr. Jones, when do you think your patient can stop laying around on her back?”

“Aw, but you look great on your back,” Jack began.

“No,” came the Doctor's horrified reply.  “I like you, but as a friend, possibly one of the best that I could ask for.  But really, you deserve better... oh... hello... look at all of you.  Come on, I'm not going to break.”

The other four came into the infirmary and Amy gently hugged her.  “I thought we'd never see you again and then when we found ourselves altogether and this man asking for you we knew you'd come for us,” she whispered into her ear, then pulled back.  “Although I have to admit I like this version of you better than my raggedy one.  Much more put together and easier to take seriously.”

Rory stood behind Martha, talking and the Doctor caught that, knowing what they were likely discussing.  Rory then came over and said, “I'm glad to see you're all right.  I can't tell you, professionally, what I was thinking when you lay so still on the ground when you were shot.  I was scared for you, scared for all of us.”

The Doctor waved him off, but with a smile.  “See, I'm fine.  I'm fine,” the Doctor answered, then she yawned.  “Oh, that was unexpected.  Why'd I do that?”

Martha looked at Rory, who nodded in agreement, “Okay, out, all of you.  The Doctor still needs rest and you're crowding this very limited space.  Let us handle her, all right?  Now out.”

“Your accent changed,” remarked Jack.  “It sounds more like mine, but not quite I can't put my finger on it.”

“I'm not an American, if that's what you're asking."

Martha shooed Jack out finally as the Doctor yawned again, leaning her head into the pillows.  Rory turned to the Doctor and asked, “Are you in pain?”

“I'm fine, really,” she tried again, wincing as she moved her shoulder the wrong way to settle into the bed.

“The TARDIS gave us a comprehensive list of what you can take, not take, what is effective and not, as well as what to avoid at all costs,” explained Martha.  “It's how I preformed surgery on your shoulder to get the bullet out without you feeling it.”

“That would explain the residual grogginess, the anaesthesia is still likely in my system.  I've just slept off enough of it to wake.  I'm guessing I might not be feeling it now, but I will be later?” the Doctor asked.  “It's one or the other.  Pain or sleepy.  Right now, I can't fight off the sleepy and not being in pain is a blessing...”

She trailed off and Martha thought she might have fallen asleep again, but when Rory smoothed the blankets she said, “Vortex...?”

“Yeah, River put us in the Vortex so that we'd be safe while you rest and recover,” answered Rory.

The Doctor felt a soothing humming in his mind – the TARDIS was also relieved to see that she was resting comfortably.  The humming was also insisting she sleep.

With a final gentle sigh, the Doctor slid into a deep, healing sleep while safe under the watchful eyes of the two medical professionals she trusted with her life.

* * * * * * *

In retrospect, she felt, perhaps it would have been better to simply accept the local instead of refusing it like the stubborn idiot she was.  But no.  Pride had demanded she not.  Finally the long like of stitches were out, and while she was sure it would have been more unpleasant to put them in without a local, it wasn't comfortable coming out either.  Martha looked at the Doctor and she tried to smile, but she was sure it came out rather sickly.

"You going to be all right?" asked Rory.

"Yeah," answered the Doctor.  "Perfectly fine."

There was a snort of laughter from Martha.  "I'm sorry, what was that?" asked the Doctor.

"Oh please.  Really now.  You were doing a whole lot of wincing the entire time and going rather pale."

For a long moment the Doctor was silent, and then they burst into peals of laughter until the Doctor leaned over, clutching her shoulder.  "Ow, okay, laughing not a good idea.  Especially not if it shakes the shoulder."

"I think you should rest," said Rory, helping her lay back before smoothing the blanket over her, checking her over.  "Don't you think so, Dr. Jones?"

Martha felt her eyebrows raise, but hardly above the height the Doctor's did.  "Oh, I think so too," agreed Martha, noticing those eyebrows elevating even higher.  "Just for a bit.  Long enough to get you some tea and toast with marmalade."

* * * * * * *

When the Doctor woke next, the infirmiary was dark and the TARDIS hum was quiet, almost as if she was trying not to wake her Time Lord either.  _Now, how long did they let me sleep?_

She sat up and pushed off the covers.  The hum of the TARDIS grew a bit louder, a bit different in pitch, but no less relieved.  Satisfied that the world was not going to tilt on its side or spin lazily out of control, she slid her legs over the side of the bed and stood cautiously.  Nothing was so undignified as a Time Lord face first on the floor merely getting out of bed, and she wasn't about to be the first.  Well, this time.  In this incarnation.

The Doctor closed her eyes for a second, letting herself catch a sense of Time as it passed.  Opening her eyes she smiled.  She hadn't been asleep that long, only about an hour.  Still morning.  She carefully took the IV out of the back of her left hand, wincing as it required moving her still very sore shoulder.  Although, and she took a look here, it was now a pale scar on her skin.  The underneath was what was taking so long to heal and hurt so much - all the tendons and muscles, and perhaps bone.

Even still, she could get dressed and then find the immobilizer so she wouldn't be confined to the infirmiary.  She doubted she'd be doing any piloting of the TARDIS for awhile.  A flash of memory caused her to smile.  So many years ago and so many incarnations... she remembered piloting with her feet.  Not something she wanted to do now.  That had been in a pinch, and she didn't feel the pressing need to do so right now.

In her clothes, and with her arm immobilized and the weight off her shoulder, the pain subsided to a dull ache.  She wore the sling on the inside of her blazer, but over her shirt.  She patted the inside pocket, feeling the reassuring presence of her sonic screwdriver.  Now... about that promised coffee, not tea... still too early for that... and that toast and marmalade.  Only now she wanted more than that.  It was getting close to lunch time and she needed lunch.

The TARDIS had yet again changed her tone.  It was of concern, but also happiness.  "I'm fine," the Doctor reassured her by touching a wall, speaking in Gallifreyan.  "Yes, I know, you can sense I'm in pain, but it's not bad.  Not anymore."

She heard Jack clear his throat behind her and she turned.  "Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked, lifting a brow.

"I was," she answered, not even switching back to English as the TARDIS translated into English - she was being selfish, she knew, but she was lonely and not just for her Companions.  "I got bored and hungry."

Jack furrowed his brows, but didn't say anything.  He could see that her lips weren't in perfect sync with her English.  When he spoke, he had a suspicion she wasn't hearing English either.  He wouldn't know, but he was correct.  The TARDIS had clued into her pilot's desire and was actually 'dubbing' his English into Gallifreyan for the Doctor.  "All right, and then back to bed."

That got an eyebrow raise, and when the Doctor responded the sync was back to normal, as if she had suddenly decided to switch back to English.  Too right.  Jack wouldn't know, but his nuances and innuendo didn't translate well.  More like not at all.  Badly.  It was a mistake to have attempted it in the first place.  At least with Jack.

The Doctor nodded wearily and Jack walked with her to the galley where it had seemingly grown from the slightly intimate space for a few to one that could easily fit far more, as if the TARDIS had expanded it while she slept.  She took the hint, although she didn't act on it.

Yet.

She sat down in the comfortable chair, one with arms so she could rest her arm and shoulder on it, as well as lean back in the padded high raise.  The Doctor knew where the chair came from and she hadn't seen it since her eighth incarnation from when it had been her - then his - reading chair in the console room when the console room had included a secondary library and informal living area.

Memories from her previous incarnations, and this one, reminded her of how much she had loved this chair.  Now it sat at the head of the large polished cherry wood table.  "Tea?" asked Jack.

"May as well.  I had wanted coffee because the time of morning when I first woke," she said.  "But it's the afternoon now.  Jack, I'd hate to be a bother, but could you also get me some toast with marmalade and maybe a banana?  I'm starved."

With a smile, Jack answered, "With pleasure, Doc."

The silence only lasted a few moments while Jack puttered in the kitchen, occasionally looking over the half wall that separated kitchen from dining area.  "So... you're a woman now.  How'd that happen?"

With a sigh, the Doctor knew it was a natural question that he'd want to know.  "It's a long story."

"We have time."

"All right... I'm the Doctor, yes?" she asked.

"I certainly hope so... why... aren't you?"

"Yes.  And no."

There was a sudden, very full silence from the kitchen.  Even the activity had stilled.  "And no?" came Jack's quiet, sort of dangerous question.

"And yes."

"Going to dance around it?"

"No."

"Tell me?"

"Yes."

"When?" asked Jack sharply.

"Now, if you'd let me," she answered, equally as sharply, although with a bit of a smile to take the bite from it.  "A Time Lord gets thirteen incarnations, or twelve regenerations."

"And you're the twelth, right?"

"Not exactly.  More like the fifteenth.  I say twelfth in case another, familiar with Time Lords, catches wind of me having a few more than I should.  Then they'd know.  They'd figure it out," she answered quietly, the last part nearly silent.  "Yes, I am the Doctor.  I remember who he was originally, and I have his memories.  He passed them to me through the TARDIS, and through himself directly... but... that was a long time ago and when he was dying of age, Jack.  Age.  His last incarnation and he had lived so very, very long..."

"He's dead," said Jack and there was a clatter of something dropping in the kitchen.  "Our Doctor is dead."

The TARDIS hummed in comfort, but there was a mournful tone to it suddenly.  "Yes.  Your Doctor, the one you all knew... he died.  It was a gentle, peaceful passing.  And in so doing he passed on an important task and trust to me.  I could have used a different name when I locked away my real one, but... I felt it honoured his memory more to not only continue his work but to continue him.  Especially considering... as I said..." She tapped her head.  "I remember everything that there was to know about him.  I carry his memories... literally... Jack.  In many ways we melded into each other and so he still lives on while I carry on the legacy."

"Who are you, though?" he asked.  "According to him, everyone died on Gallifrey."

"Everyone did," she answered gently.  "But there were those who never returned to Gallifrey... surely you didn't think that all Time Lords kept to one planet, especially considering our technology?  No, we lived on but lived quietly and out of the way.  There are so few of us now that we can barely sense each other, if at all, unless we are in the same era and general place.  It's not infinite anymore."

"So you're one of those?"

"Yeah, I am," she answered with a smile.  "My name, and it wasn't my name really, but one I took so that I could pass off with humans... my name is Susan Foreman.  The Doctor was my grandfather."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, as a matter of fact, I would love fan art for this fic - my drawings are little more than scribblings to help me describe with accuracy what I'm trying to show. They aren't "art". I would love some art though. Pretty please, any artists out there up for it?


	2. All That Glitters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor takes her Companions out on a trip to thank them for their help and to help them to come to terms with the loss of the original Doctor, even though she has all of his memories and is still the Doctor herself. But things soon, as usual, goes sideways when the TARDIS takes them to 1899 Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada) during the Klondike Gold Rush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse any formatting issues. For some reason it's not accepting my changes.

****

**CHAPTER TWO**

 ** _ALL THAT GLITTERS _**

 

The woman was a tiny woman, and the chair almost looked like it was swallowing her. The down duvet covering her legs as she read a book that rested on her duvet covered legs. The library looked as if it had been taken from the pages of a history book. So did everything else in the room. However, the console in other half of the room lent an otherworldly air to the room. In reality, the console room was the truth of the room while the library was naught more than a 'desktop theme' like someone would change the theme of their computer.

She preferred it to the stark white of the console room that she first started traveling. It was the last console room before the war. Before everything burned. Perhaps it was his favourite before as well and as such the TARDIS's as well. She liked it. It was warm. Welcoming. Far less intimidating than what the white interior had been.

Jack and Amy were checking on things and keeping the aging Time Ship in the Vortex. Not that there was much to do to keep it there, but it made everyone feel that much better, then so be it. Jack looked over and nudged Amy. "For a race that claims to not need sleep, she does enough of it," he said, smiling.

Amy took the book from nerveless and limp hands and drew the duvet up to her shoulders, kneeling beside the chair. "She looks so young when she's asleep," she said. "Hard to believe she's almost two thousand years old."

Jack shifted uncomfortably, but didn't say anything. If the Doctor wasn't letting others in on her secret, then it wasn't his place to say. No one could tell anyway. Hell, if she hadn't of told him the truth, then he wouldn't have known either. The memories within her from him were so perfectly hers now that they were her memories. But it still hurt to think that the man, the actual Doctor, was dead and gone and in his place was a granddaughter. Memories or not - she wasn't him and he wasn't sure he'd be able to get over that. Not that he didn't like her. He had to admit she was really easy on the eyes and the personality was close enough (given the lineage, he couldn't be that surprised) he got on with her well enough that they could be friends too. It was a trust she had been given and Jack would be damned if he didn't give her his aid. She was family. It was just the way it was. It didn't stop him from wondering if she'd tell the others who she really was to their Doctor.

Amy walked away and joined Jack in checking on things when suddenly the Doctor came to, looking straight at Jack. For a moment he got the feeling she knew but then her eyes left him and went to Amy. "I've got just the thing!" she exclaimed.

"Uh oh," came Martha's voice as she walked into the console room, hand in hand, with Mickey.

"I have a brilliant idea. While we're all here and together, what about a little holiday someplace?" the Doctor stood up, disentangling herself from the duvet.

"So long as it's actually a holiday and not trouble, I'm game. Someplace with shopping Doctor. Any you stay here. You still need to rest," Martha pushed her back down into the chair, ignoring her protests. "Don't think I didn't see you sleeping where you're sitting. Injured Time Lords need lots of sleep. You told me that once... twice... enough times that I got the clue that it's one of the few times you actually sleep."

There was a mutter from Jack, that while no one else heard the Doctor did and she and everyone looked at him. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, thinking the same as he had muttered under his breath. _Perhaps it's best if the Doctor tells them who she really is_. He ignored the glare from said Doctor as well, but he returned it pointedly. Clearly she didn't feel the same as he did. They would have to talk about this. He didn't like this particular secret.

The Doctor had stood again, leaning a hand on his shoulder and he could feel a mental prod and he listened. _It's for the best_.

 _No, it isn't_. Jack shook his head. _It's not that they have a right to know, but that I can't exactly mourn him because it's a secret. And they'd want to know who you are - they'd accept you all the same as I have. They'd love you for keeping his legacy._

 _And they'd miss him terribly_

 _Like we both do?_

He looked at her, he could see her loss there too, and she turned to the console, clearing his throat. _Tell them. Some things you don't have to copy from him - that 'Always fine, me' would be one thing._

There was no answer, but he could see that she had fallen into deep thought and the touch from her mind had retreated. He couldn't initiate contact with anyone but it wasn't as if he couldn't listen and answer when someone else did. Especially a mind like hers. Or his, when he had been alive. He felt that like a cold needle as well. With a grin, she said, "Here's just the place! Glitter-8 in the year 3000. Shopping, and a true holiday planet modeled after a posh resort on Earth... I think one of those all inclusive Carribean affairs. Sun, sand, no trouble at all... shopping for Martha..."

She punched in the coordinates, and Jack and Amy prepared to do most of the running around the console so she wouldn't have to. The Doctor pulled the handbrake and the time rotor moved in a more determined pace. Moments later, everything quieted and the Doctor, throwing on her jacket over the sling - with some help from Jack - threw open the double doors and snow, which was gently falling, drifted down.

"Uh, Doctor, this isn't Glitter-8," came Amy's voice from the console.

The Doctor looked around. The town was obviously on Earth and, judging by the look of things, some sort of Western town in perhaps the United States. Taking another step and looking around outside, she saw what she was looking for as she looked back into the TARDIS. "Oh. Well. This isn't what I had in mind."

"Doctor, where are we?" asked Martha in amusement.

"If I had to guess, which I don't because I know... I would say we're in the Yukon and we're in the middle of the Gold Rush, which would put us in Northern Canada - not that saying the Yukon was explanation enough - in the year... oh... 1899?" answered the Doctor.

"Not Glitter-8," Jack grinned, unable to keep himself from laughing.

Like grandfather... like granddaughter.

* * * * * * * * * **

ACT ONE

**

* * * * * * * * *

"But that can't be, I know I input everything correctly," said the Doctor as she ran back into the TARDIS, up to the control console and then at the screen. "You see, I did. Now why are we here?"

"Maybe it was the TARDIS?" asked Amy. "It wouldn't be the first time. Then again, wouldn't be the first time you screwed it up either."

"I never screw things up Amy. I always end up exactly where I am meant to be. Even if it wasn't where I planned," retorted the Doctor a bit sharply, then she sighed. "Sorry. I appear to be a bit impatient and sharp in this one."

Rory sighed, and motioned to Martha, noting the sudden drawn look to the Doctor's face. "Doctor, are you all right?" asked Martha.

The Doctor sighed and looked at Martha. "I'm fine," she answered, gently. A bit too gently. She closed her eyes. "Thank you Martha, Rory... but obviously the TARDIS thinks we need to be here and so we're here instead of Glitter-8."

Suddenly, she appeared to change moods. "Well then, since we're here, perhaps we can check out the sights. Maybe this will be just as relaxing..."

"I doubt it," came Rory's voice. "Seeing as the TARDIS brought us here."

"... or not. Anyway," the Doctor waved around her good arm. "It would be better if we dressed to fit in. Learn more than way anyway. What's the fun of a time machine if you can't see the sights proper?"

* * * * * * *

Jack led the way outside, with the Doctor at his arm. He still picked a 'dashing' outfit, choosing to appear as a well to do gentleman. The Doctor, on the other hand, chose a similar quality, but chose to dress in more men's clothes than womens, although she did choose a feminine top with the men's trousers. She still wore the heels. Given the weather, she chose to forgo the sandals she sometimes alternated the heeled boots with. Over this she wore her long brown coat, although her slinged arm was worn underneath and her good arm was held securely in Jack's arm.

That had been the condition of being allowed out of the TARDIS to investigate - Martha and Rory had fairly ganged up on her to point out that she would not go anywhere alone. Preferably she'd be with someone with two good arms and the ability to do her fighting for her until she was two good arms of her own. It didn't matter who she was with. It could be Martha, if she chose, but someone able to defend her while she was recovering.

The Doctor had taken this with a long suffering sigh, but had conceded to their argument in the end.

The others also dressed in period dress as they wandered into the street. With a bit of a look, the Doctor used the sonic to hide the TARDIS a small step out of time so that no one would accidently find or wander into it. Or, as both Martha and Jack remembered, steal it like the Master had right before the Year that Never Was. They wandered into the town and wandered around.

"Everything seems fine," said Jack cautiously, looking at the Time Lord, who was deep in thought.

She nodded her agreement. "It's puzzling. Usually if the TARDIS sees fit to land us somewhere there is something not right. But, so far, I don't see anything out of place," she answered, slowly, cautiously, as if expecting something to go immediately sideways mid-sentence.

"Maybe the TARDIS thought we'd like this better?" asked Amy.

"I certainly hope not!" came the Doctor's reply. "It's not my favourite time period. At all. Never was into Westerns, and, while this is far more north than the typical Western, I don't relish the thought of being in the middle of the time period unless I have to. The TARDIS knows that much about me. She wouldn't have brought me here unless there is something not right. But what?"

For a long moment everyone was quiet, and then Mickey said, "All right, we split up. This time you've got the advantage of numbers. We pair off and explore and see if we can spot something off. Make sure who we go with has a fair grasp of the time period and so can spot something out of place. When we find something, we all meet up and report on it someplace normal and in the time period for a meeting."

Jack nodded in agreement. "Someplace with a bed," he said, noticing how pale the Doctor still was due to her injury, and for once that statement held no hint of innuendo, only concern, and he looked up and saw the hotel. "Someplace like that. We'll rent rooms. I'll share a room with the Doctor, and the two married couples can pair off."

"An excellent idea Jack," agreed the Doctor. "Not that we're pairing off, I mean. But to mix in that would be best."

"And you're sitting this one out, Doc," finished Jack, ignoring her shocked look and mouthed _What?_ "We can do the exploring for you this time while you rest and heal."

"I agree with Jack," said Martha. "You look peaked already. Take a rest. We'll come get you if we see anything. Sound good, Rory?"

Rory nodded, and the Doctor sighed again. She'd been outnumbered again by the two medical professionals, plus Jack... and she could see Amy and Mickey were also siding with them. "Fine," she conceded, and then pointed. "But the minute you find anything strange you come get me. Understood?"

"Absolutely, boss," answered Mickey.

They walked into the hotel and immediately someone yelled, "Hey, we don't serve their kind in here."

"I beg your pardon?" asked the Doctor imperiously. "They are with me."

"I'm sorry madam, but no coloured folks. It would upset the other fine patrons. You can set up your serving girl and boy up the road," said the hoteler as he walked over, blanching by whatever he saw on her psychic paper, keeping his voice low but reasonable. "I know out East they are more liberal, but here it'd cause a ruckus and I can't afford a ruckus."

For a moment, Martha could see the Oncoming Storm in the Doctor's eyes, but she stepped forward, eyes lowered... already hating this but remembering hiding from the Family of Blood. "It's all right, ma'am, we'll go up the road and report to you... is there a server's door sir?" she asked demurely.

"I'm really sorry that you have to," apologized the hoteler again, and Martha could see the actual apology in those eyes. "Yeah, there is. It's up the road. Can't miss it. And there is a back entrance. I'll make sure you have a spare key to your Lady's room."

"Don't worry, we'll catch up with you later," said Amy, and then noticed the man look at her.

"My Lady, you truly do travel with an entourage..." the hoteler sighed and looked up. "Will your handmaiden also need a room?"

"No, she and her husband," the Doctor looked at the psychic paper. "Dr. Rory Williams will require a room of their own."

"Oh! A Doctor! Oh, forgive me, ma'am, I didn't realize he was your husband," he apologized again, as Jack smirked inwardly wondering just what the psychic paper said.

"Our rooms, sir?" asked the Doctor again.

"Oh yes, milady, this way please..."

A few moments later after they had a chance to look at the psychic paper, Jack asked, "So, who are you this time?"

"Evidently the widowed wife of a Senator in Ottawa, complete with her personal guard and her personal Doctor, his wife, a maid and a porter," answered the Doctor as she sat down in the chair.

Jack laughed at this. "So we have three rooms, one for me besides yours for propriety's sake, one for Amy and Rory and one for you... which happens to be the best in the hotel?"

"It would appear to be so."

It was true. The Doctor's room was the 19th century version of a suite, complete with her own sitting room and bedroom. Amy and Rory shared a normal room, although it was a nice one, and Jack had the same. This was fine as it would be the Doctor's room they all met in anyway and would need the space and it was in this sitting room that the four of them were with the Doctor in a chair that looked remarkably like the one in the library console room on the TARDIS. The walk and events seemed to have drained a bit of the Doctor's energy and Jack noticed she was leaning her head against the wings of the wingback chair, although she still appeared alert and sharp eyed, and her hand kept straying toward her sore arm. Rory caught that and looked towards Jack meaningfully.

"All right, Doc, I think you should take a rest for a bit. Martha leave anything for pain with you Rory?" asked Jack.

"No, but I made sure I brought something on my own, just in case we were separated," he answered, as he brought the bag around and opened it.

Rummaging around in the bag, Rory brought out a bottle and read the contents. "Here, the info the TARDIS translated said this would help. It wouldn't knock you out, but it should help alleviate the pain," he said, as he mixed it into her tea and handed it to her while staying close to her side.

The Doctor looked like she was about to protest, but with a look from Jack she again let Rory take care of her and simply drank the tea wordlessly. "Now bed," ordered Rory as forcefully as he could manage.

Jack helped the Doctor, she was a bit shaky at this point, and led her into the bedroom where she laid down on top of the covers. Jack took her boots off and used a throw blanket to cover her. "I don't need to be babied, Jack," she groused.

"Humour us. It'll make you feel better and us feel better knowing that you're on the mend," he groused right back.

She sighed again. "I know."

"Get some sleep," he said. "We both know that Time Lords heal like crazy when you sleep."

He had no idea if by the time he left a few minutes later if she was really asleep or not, but he drew the curtains to darken it a bit before he joined Amy and Rory in the sitting room. "Well, I'll stay here and keep an eye on her. You two can wander about and take a look around town while I go into the common room and listen in on things," said Jack, then he saw Rory's look. "Don't worry, I won't be far and she can call me if she needs anything. I think she'll be asleep awhile and me wandering around the room will only disturb her rest. At least there I'm also doing something to find out what the hell is going on around here. Now shoo."

He led them out and down into the common room where they did wander outside while he sat at the bar. The hoteler, which was also the barkeep, walked over and asked, "I didn't ask, but is her Ladyship ill?"

"Nah, she took a tumble riding her favourite stallion. Hurt her shoulder really badly," answered Jack.

"So, whiskey?" asked the barkeep.

"Coffee, for now. Want to keep my senses in cases she calls needing something... or if I have to go running to get the Doctor," answered Jack, and he was pleased to see the hoteler nod in understanding.

"A very responsible thing to do for a guard," mentioned the hoteler. "Is someone after her?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you don't go far and you don't drink while on duty," answered the hoteler. "Makes a man wonder."

"Well, no one is after her. Not that we know of, anyway, unless she's needed back East at which point I suppose telegraph to send for her is more than sufficiant, I would think," answered Jack. "Just habit to have of me around. Been with her and her family awhile. Couldn't think of anywhere else I'd want to be."

For a long moment the hoteler was silent and then he nodded. "I thought it was something like that. Makes sense to come this far with what she could bring. Can't touch her or judge her if they don't know, eh?" he winked. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I can see the way you look at her and it's not professional, if you catch my meaning. No one will judge up here. No one has that right. We're all running from something up here."

Jack was speechless. It took a lot to render him that way but the man had acheived it. Didn't take long to clear his throat and get back on track. But the hoteler was right, dammit. He had fallen for her. Another one, and he knew, as much as this one trusted him and liked him that would never look at him the way he wanted her to. "Thanks for the sentiment."

"That's my job," said the hoteler in puzzlement as he cleaned a glass.

* * * * * * *

Mickey was in a frightful mood by the time they had been able to book a room in another, far more run down, hotel. She tried to ease him, but finally sighed and said, "It was like this in 1919 when I was the Doctor's maid. I think it's why she doesn't like this time period. Reminds her of that."

"You think so?" asked Mickey.

"Pretty sure. That and it's not near technologically advanced enough for her. Boring!" she threw her hands up in the air. "Can't disappear into the crowd like she can in the twenty first."

"You've a point there," he agreed. "What now?"

"Well, as she said, we wander around and see what we can find," she answered as she offered him her hand. "C'mon, get up. Just because she doesn't like it here and just because it frankly sucks that we're being second classed due to our skin doesn't mean we can't see history with our own eyes, yeah?"

Mickey took her hand and let her drag him back to his feet as they left the hotel and wandered around. Most did sneer and make jibes, but there were some who were nice people in town to talk to. It didn't take long to find out that the rest of town made a pointed effort to simply ignore them, as if they didn't exist. Mickey, once they were out of earshot, said, "That has advantages..."

"Yeah," she agreed. "As in we hear things because they simply make like we're shadows and continue talking where the others they will stop and acknowledge."

"Interesting tidbit that," Mickey pointed out as they walked by another conversation that the only change was the pointed effort the people made to continue it, as if to pretend they didn't exist.

* * * * * * *

Rory walked with Amy's hand in the crook of his arm, much like how Jack had walked with the Doctor. He had to admit he liked how Amy looked when she dressed up for this time period. Her hair was swept up into a loose but well kept twist at the back of her head, although low and towards her neck. It was out of her face and let her delicate features refinement and class. The dress hugged her curves although it covered her from neck to ankle with the skirts she wore and the frilled neck of the shirt. It was before the wide use of make-up so her skin was bare and natural, which left her eyes and lips the most noticable.

"Rory, what is it?" she asked, amused.

"Uh, nothing," he said, looking forward.

"You're staring."

"I, uh..." he sighed. "It's just that you look very lovely in this time period. The Doctor is right, especially in this time period, the name Amelia suits you better than Amy."

A blush was his answer. "Rory."

"I'm not lying," he said, as he turned to her. "Your hair, while it looks fantastic all other times, looks alluring and ladylike back like that, and I can see your lovely face. And I sound like something out a Harlequin romance novel..."

Amy laughed and they went back to walking. "But seriously, Amy, the look suits you," he finished.

"Thank you, Mr. Williams," she said, with a bit of mock formality.

The walked past the alley, sidestepping the man who stumbled into it. Pointedly they ignored the retching sounds as he noisly threw up whatever he had been eating or drinking. Neither of them noticed that the noise abruptly ended, nor when he disappeared and another, who was neither drunk nor sick, replaced him. The man was dressed the same and would have been the same if not for the fact that he obviously wasn't.

He had simply replaced the man.

* * * * * * * * **

ACT TWO

**

* * * * * * * *

Jack walked into the room and saw that the Doctor was up and around. In fact, she was starting out the window in a full on brood. She turned to face him and brightened at seeing him. "Jack, perhaps we can go for a walk... I'm getting tired of being..."

"Don't even say it," chided Jack. "You're barely standing as it is. Whatever Rory gave you put you out for a bit and you just woke up as it is. And I can see the lines of pain in your face."

"You came up here to talk to me," she remarked.

"Yeah, but... you look like hell, Doc," he answered back. "Lie the hell down and rest, would ya?"

She rolled her eyes and, in what he assumed was meant to be a compromise, she sat in the same chair and put her feet up and allowed Jack to use the throw from the bedroom to cover her legs. He also brought out a pillow. "Here, put this behind your lower back. These chairs don't exactly recline but I'll do what I can to make it seem like they do. If they had a chaise it'd be all the better. Then you could recline but not be out and out in bed."

With a look of long suffering patience she allowed him to fuss over her. "Doctor, why don't you take this one from the sidelines? Let the Companions, or as we've been called, your Children of Time, handle it. You... he... the Doctor all trained us well enough that we can handle it."

"I can't." The reply was soft, quiet, but filled with finality.

"Why not?" asked Jack in exasperation.

"Oh, I can let you all investigate it. I have no doubt in your abilities there, but as for the final action of fixing it? Leave it to me," she answered. "If it requires interference, you must come and get me. Promise me that."

"Yeah, okay," Jack answered, drawling out the last part. "Why does the Time Lord need to handle it this time?"

"Yes, Jack, a Time Lord does," came her clear answer, and when she opened her eyes he could see the depths of time itself, or so he'd swear if asked later. "I cannot ask you to bear this burden for me. Something is both a Fixed Point and something is also in flux. I have to sort it in the end. That's my burden and my curse - the one I was born, raised and trained to deal with. Not yours. I cannot ask another to deal with it in my place. Only another Time Lord."

With a sigh, Jack closed his eyes, dropped and shook his head. He opened them again and looked her straight into her ancient eyes and said, brooking no argument, "Fine then. I'll step out of the way. I get the burden and curse part, believe me... but you have to meet me in the middle. You do nothing but rest and heal up. If it comes to you needing to do something 'Time Lordly' then I want you in peak form and at top strength. You hear me?"

She nodded, smiling. Then she closed her eyes and leaned her head into the padded wing of the wingback chair. "Thank you Jack," she murmured before taking a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh, falling asleep as she did.

Jack drew the blanket up to her shoulders and smoothed it out over her as he did so. "Dammit, Doc, if I didn't know what I did you'd have me fooled too."

* * * * * * *

Mickey and Martha walked arm in arm through town, taking in rumours. Some were interesting, if inane and completely normal for the time period. They ran into Amy and Rory and the four walked together for a bit. "Have you heard anything out of place?" asked Martha.

"Not a thing," answered Amy. "You?"

"Not for the time period. Heard loads of local rumour and suposition on the real wealth of the Klondike, but nothing that the Doctor would find interesting," answered Mickey. "Turning into a real wild goose chase this. Usually with the Doctor if things are going to go sideways, they go sideways a whole lot quicker than this."

"Maybe the TARDIS picked someplace stable for the Doctor to heal where she'd have no choice but to allow herself to be cared for," thought Rory out loud, and he saw them all turn to him in surprise. "Well, think about it. Women are not exactly expected to be strong in this time period and a noble one, a rich one, is expected to be waited on hand and foot by all those around her. It's how the world perceives her. Add to it that she is obviously injured and unwell, and well, do the math on what the world will expect of her so that she doesn't stand out."

Martha felt her eyebrows lift up in surprise, but she had to admit Rory had a valid point. "Still, let's keep an eye out for anything funny, just in case, yeah?" she said. "Mickey and I had a job offer at the local mansion to work as cleaning staff for awhile. Where better than to hear the local flavour than there?"

Amy nodded, but said, "Be careful, you two. If things do go sideways we're on our own until the Doctor is out of that sling."

They parted company and Mickey led the way up to the local mansion where they entered the back way to start work early. The other serving staff noted they weren't late, and didn't say anything else other than the look of appreciation that they were there early and therefore were lifting the load off the others' shoulders.

Three hours into the shift, and Martha noticed that the family who lived there was a bit off. Really off. She was cleaning the dining room when she caught their conversation.

"So he came through all right?" asked the woman.

"Oh, fine, fine, but Dan needs to come through soon," said the man. "It's getting unstable, if he doesn't come through soon he won't be able to."

Martha finished up what she needed to do in there, and, without haste but efficiently she left the dining room and silently found Mickey. "I realize they might be talking about winter roads, but it's still a bit off," she finished after explaining what she had heard.

"I'll look into it, yeah?" he said with a smile and picked up some wood and walked down the hall.

She followed silently as his back up just in case, and he rounded the corner. The sound of wood hitting the floor seconds later caused her to run around the corner when she came face to face with a man - who while being the same complexion as Mickey was not Mickey - dressed the same as Mickey who was clumsily picking the wood off the floor. He looked up sheepishly. "Oh, sorry, miss, you gave me a fright there."

For a long second she was wordless in shock, then she found her voice. "I heard the wood hit the floor and came to check to make sure you were all right."

"Oh, I'm fine... say... is that an English accent?" he asked, and his voice held no trace of Mickey's accent.

"Yes, I came from that way, from out East... Ottawa..." she answered demurely, meanwhile her mind ticked swiftly in sudden worry. _Where the hell is Mickey?_ She wanted to scream at him. "But you seem to be all right, so I'll just go back to what I was doing."

He watched her as she left, and when she was around the corner, she retreated faster. Before long she was running. She ran out of the house, and then she saw him behind her with the other two in the dining room. She changed tactics and ran straight into the woods where they wouldn't be able to pursue her easily. Martha had loads of experience dodging pursuit. Her time with the Doctor had taught her that, as well as with UNIT and then independently beside Mickey... _Mickey_... her heart sank.

What had happened to Mickey?

* * * * * * *

Amy led Rory back up the stairs, knocked gently on the door to the Doctor's suite before they let themselves in. Jack looked up and put a finger to his lips, pointing at the Doctor who slept in her chair by the window. Amy made a motion with her head that indicated Jack should follow them and he did, closing the door gently as he did so. He followed them to their room and went in. "Well?" he asked.

Rory sighed. "Not a thing that's out of place."

"Yeah, I thought so," answered Jack. "The Doctor still thinks there is, but is trusting us to find out what. When we do we're to get her and let her take care of it. I talked her into resting until that happens."

Amy looked at him. "How'd you do that?"

"Appealed to her common sense," groused Jack. "Does it matter? I just did. Anyway, I want to take a look for myself, but I don't want to leave the Doc alone. You mind watching over her for awhile?"

"Rory will," said Amy decisively. "He's got the medical training and until Martha comes back he's the nurse. I will come with you."

"Amy?" asked Rory.

She turned to face him. "Finger on lips, Rory. Listen to me, both of you. I want answers too but I agree with Jack - the Doctor needs to be watched over. You know as well as I do how stubborn she can be. And both of us can't stay there and I'm not staying in this room alone. I'd stay but I don't have your medical training."

Rory acquieced and Jack led Amy out of the room while Rory let himself into the Doctor's suite. With a small wave that was part salute, Jack and Amy left the hotel and walked into the street. Once they were out of the hotel, he asked, "All right, what's up?"

"You have been hovering over the Doctor ever since she left the TARDIS, and even before. You've talked to her... alone... on numerous occasions. So, I figure you are the closest person we have as a Doctor expert. So. Spill."

Jack was taken aback by her forwardness. "On what?"

"One, how can he, I mean she, change her face and body? Become a whole new person but still be, you know, the same person?" she asked.

"It isn't the first time I saw one Doctor leave, and another came back," he mused. "My second time, actually. I think. At this point who knows?" He sighed when he looked over and saw the look on her face. "I can see why he chose you as a Companion. You're bold, forthright and observant. It's called Regeneration. I met the ninth incarnation, and, well, I don't know what you would have made of him. Anyway, evidently he died and when a Time Lord dies or is so critically injured that death is just around the corner anyway, they can cheat death by using that. From what I understand of it it's a sort of instant reincarnation, only into an adult body. Fully healthy, fully healed. Only a minor inconvenience of Regeneration Sickness in comparison to, you know, _dying_ altogether. A complete regeneration on the cellular level. They retain all their memories, experiences... core personality... only minor changes in personality from incarnation to incarnation, plus the complete physical change of a new body. One day, the ninth - a man who favoured a black leather jacket, black jeans and a simple dark jumper, as you English call it - went away and in his place was a tall man with more hair and a pinstripe suit and tie. I heard about his eleventh from Sarah Jane... evidently he had more brown hair, younger and preferred tweed and a bow tie because..."

Amy smiled. "Bowties are cool," she quoted from memory.

"But a Time Lord only gets thirteen incarnations, so when I heard he was already on number eleven... well I wanted to give him a shake to tell him to slow the hell down. This is the third I've met."

"She's my second and I had no idea she could," said Amy. "So much to know, and when you learn one thing you find out there's at least two more mysteries to solve."

With a whole hearted laugh, Jack agreed. He then softly said, under his breath, "It's too bad the Doctor hadn't introduced us all when he was still alive."

"What was that?" asked Amy, stopping suddenly to stare at him with those sharp green eyes. "What do you mean..."

She didn't get a chance to finish speaking before they heard a sharp scream from the alley they had just walked past. Jack turned, reflexively putting his hand on the reassuring weight of his gun as he ran back in the direction they had just come from, Amy on his heels.

* * * * * * * **

ACT THREE

**

* * * * * * *

Rory sat in the other wingback chair across from the Doctor. He was reading but every so often his eyes would stray upwards to watch the Time Lord sleep. It was too soon to give her another dose of the painkiller from the TARDIS. The information that had been translated had clearly stated that when using that particular drug, which had been formulated on Gallifrey itself, not to double up on it at all. It was formulated specifically for use on a Time Lord. Rory had no doubt it packed a powerful whallop as he had seen the Doctor in a bowtie shrug off powerful narcotics like they were nothing. He'd stagger, but within minutes, he'd be back up and fully aware. This one, on the other hand, either she had no desire to shrug off the effects and the side effects or she wasn't able to. He suspected the latter with the heavy warning from the TARDIS itself. Warning well taken.

He was mindnumbingly bored but refused to be sidelined by it. Amy had a point. He was the nurse, and as a professional he had a duty. He didn't mind that it was the reason he was brought aboard the TARDIS. Actually... he preferred that to any other reason. It told him he had a use... a purpose... other than to simply be the companion of a Companion.

And he wasn't going to be caught sleeping or bored out of his mind on duty. Instead, he treated this like any other assignment. He kept records of treatment and made sure they were neat, legible and organized into a notebook. What she had been given, how much, when... even when she ate, drank or did other personal things... how much she slept and when was also in there. All notes that when Dr. Jones needed something she could simply know at a glance what she needed to know and advise Rory on any changes that would need to be done for her care.

That was his job and he was proud of it.

She was a touchy patient, but he'd handled grumpy patients before and he would do so again. She also was proud and unlikely to ask for help. That was fine. It was his job to read the subtle clues in stiff movement to know what she needed and to help her without realizing she was being helped. That, he felt, seperated the good nurses from the excellent ones.

A scream in the alley way startled the Doctor awake, and Rory was already on his feet, helping her up with her good arm before she had time to realize he was. Her eyes were sharp and clear, and she was steady on her feet, but Rory, ever the gentleman and, if asked later he would swear up and down it was simply part of the 'role' in the time period took her hand and put it in the crook of her arm and led her outside, albiet very quickly, and to the alley where Jack and Amy stood trying to see down it.

They looked into the alley way and for a long moment, the Doctor was downright confused. "There must be some sort of teleportation device, maybe a trans-mat. You remember the Game Station... bloody trans-mat... maybe something like that but there's no piles of dust. No smell of ozone," the Doctor brought out her sonic screwdriver and used it to scan the area, but then looked at it in confusion. "I'm not even getting any readings with the sonic. Must have some sort of wavelength and heat filter... maybe even... think think..."

The others tried to keep up with what she said but it was said at such a speed. "Oh! I know, perhaps a terra-frequency wavelength tranmodifiers... no, they still leave a trace of silicone... hmm..."

"Uh Doc..." started Jack.

"But there's nothing here!" she finally exclaimed, almost throwing her arms in frustration, then with a wince she thought better of it. She turned to them. "Yes, what?"

"Well, she still talks at a million miles a minute," remarked Rory.

"Still our Doctor," finished Amy.

Jack sighed. He had to agree with them and inwardly he was amused. Throw the woman in a pinstripe suit and he'd been thoroughly creeped out if not for what he already knew about Time Lords. That was neither here nor there, and there was something slightly more pressing. "Nothing?" he asked.

"Not a thing. Zippo. Zilch. Zero. Completely lacking in any traces," answered the Doctor. "Not even traces of anyone having been here except for the footprints. Which simply stop right there. But nothing else. She couldn't have just vanished into thin air..."

Two seconds later, from the same thin air, for what appeared to be a blink of an eyelid, and then a woman walked out. She was calm and by far not in a panic. Not anywhere to warrant the scream they had heard. The four of them looked at each other, shocked into silence. "Excuse me, madam, are you all right?" asked the Doctor.

The woman turned to look at them. "I'm quite fine, thank you."

"You were not in distress at all?" asked Jack, lifting a brow. "You didn't scream?"

"No. Why would I?" she asked, with a chuckle. "I just came from the other street."

With that she walked on and the Doctor looked at the others, used the sonic and looked at the readings. "What in the name of Rassilon is going on here?"

"So much for things not going sideways," remarked Rory, looking at his wife.

Amy grinned sickly too.

* * * * * * *

It was getting dark and Martha knew that the Doctor and the other Companions would be getting worried when neither Martha or Mickey showed up or reported in. She was well ahead of her pursuers, but they by far hadn't given up. As the last light of day disappeared, she felt a chill in the air but was relieved when the sounds of pursuit vanished with a frustrated curse.

With a relieved sigh, Martha moved through the woods and found another way down the mountain. She had to keep moving or she would die from hypothermia - and she had to get back to the Doctor and tell her what she'd found.

Nightime noises scared the hell out of her. She couldn't help but think she was going to get mauled to death by a bear, or a wolf... or be caught. But she couldn't give up.

She wouldn't give up.

Not when she was possibly Mickey's only hope.

* * * * * * *

Martha was right when the pursuit had given up. The four people huddled around the fireplace. Of these included the replacement for Mickey, who was the one who cursed loudly in Trade Common before calling off the search for the serving girl.

"Your knee all right, Kel?" asked the woman who had just recently been spotted by the Doctor in the alleyway.

"Yeah, it's nothing major."

He toyed with his Vortex Manipulator. "Relax, no one will find us here," said another.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said the woman. "I met four people in town and let me tell you, they're aren't local like we aren't local, if you catch my meaning."

Kel turned sharply. "Are they from the Agency?"

"I don't think so. They didn't recognize me and didn't seem to understand what happened. It was a close call though. They were right on top of my entry point," she answered.

"We should get rid of them just in case."

"Not disputing that."

* * * * * * * * * **

ACT FOUR

**

* * * * * * * * *

Rory had just settled the Doctor into the chair and covered her in the blanket when someone tapped at the door and came in.

Martha looked a mess - her hair was in disarray and full of sticks and her face mud and dirt streaked. Her period dress was torn and ruined. Rory took charge and, after Amy used another blanket, wrapped her up and sat her down in the chair opposite to the Doctor. Jack had kept the Doctor sitting down by firmly pushing on her good shoulder. "What the hell happened?" asked the Doctor when Martha was finally settled and a cup of hot tea in her hands.

"You were right," she said finally after taking a few grateful sips, her hands finally stopped shaking as well as she warmed up. "There is defintely something going on. People are being replaced. I lost sight of Mickey for a minute and then... he was gone and another man was in his place. I ran before it could happen to me - I knew you needed to know about it and the only way was if I got away."

The Doctor looked meaningfully at Jack. "People being replaced."

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," said Jack. "And my thoughts are headed that way too. Looks like you were right - something is definitely up and the TARDIS picked up on it. Now what?"

For a long time the Doctor was deep in thought, mulling over the possibilities. It was in this silence that she turned her head to the window and crinkled her brow in thought. "What was that?" she asked.

"What was what?" asked Jack.

"That!" she said, and this time they all heard the stop step on the roof outside.

It was someone well versed in moving silently, but they never had come against the hearing of a Time Lord, and now that she had pointed out the misplaced sound, they could all hear it, although not as clearly as she. Jack pulled out his gun, and the Doctor her sonic. Martha took Jack's spare. Amy and Rory ducked behind the couch as the Doctor moved quickly from the chair and used it as cover. Martha flattened herself beside the window, crouched low and Jack used the other chair as cover by the door.

It was then they all noticed the eery silence from the normally ruckus loud common room below. "I feel like I'm in a spagetti western," groused Rory.

"Now you know why I hate this time period," came the Doctor's reply. "Never bloody fails."

The door slammed open as the man who had replaced Mickey began shooting blindly into the room. The stuffing from the chairs flew but he didn't actually hit anyone. The Doctor doused the lights using the sonic screwdriver and plunged everything into darkness. "What the hell..." muttered the man, then he raised his voice to a yell. "Quick... they knew we were coming!"

He began shooting in earnest, and Jack shot at him. There was a cry of pain and a thump. Jack dying. Again. The other man also fell with a cry but continued to curse and swear. Very well then. He lived and when Jack came back they had someone to question. The window was broken from the inside and a bottle with a flaming piece of cloth was thrown inside, breaking and lighting the rug on fire.

Thinking fast, it was Amy who doused that with a well thrown pitcher of water and Rory beat the rest out by using another, smaller rug. The other three attackers, once they realized there was return fire, tried to shoot towards it. The Doctor took care of that by carefully aiming her sonic and causing the guns to malfunction and jam. With more swearing, they retreated and Martha checked outside the window. "They're gone," she said.

Jack gasped and sat up, just as Rory was going over to check on him. The look on Rory's face was hysterical, as was Amy's look of shock. "Was I out long?" he asked, grinning.

"Not long," answered the Doctor. "Pick that one up."

The noise from the common room started as a murmur and then returned to normal. "I'll say it again..." muttered the Doctor. "I hate this time period."

Jack picked up the man who had replaced Mickey and Martha tied him to a chair, but not one of the stuffed wingbacks. The Doctor walked up to him, her sonic screwdriver in easy view and the man, while being tended by Rory, thankfully wasn't hurt to the point of being in danger. It had been a messy, but non-life threatening graze to the thigh. "Now, who are you?" asked the Doctor.

The man looked her up and down, and then at the rest of them. "She was right when she said you weren't local. Not just to the town."

"We don't have time for the banter," said Jack. "If we want to get Mickey back, then we have to find out what he knows."

Jack cracked his knuckles threateningly. The man paled, then paled further when he got a clear look at Jack once Martha had finished re-lighting the lamps and fireplace in the room, flooding it with warmth and light. "You!" he exclaimed.

With shock, Jack stared at him as well. "What in the name of hell is the Time Agency doing here?" demanded Jack, looking from the Doctor to the man and back again.

"Is that what he is?" the Doctor lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we used to work together. His name is Kel Davens," answered Jack. "He's a Time Agent."

The Doctor walked up to Davens and in a low, dangerous, voice she asked, "Where is Mickey Smith, Mr. Davens?"

"Who the hell are you?" he asked as he pulled back from her as he looked her in the eyes. He didn't like the ancient feeling, the power that came from them. "What the hell are you?"

"Time Lord," she answered, matter of factly.

Davens face drained of blood as he mouthed silently, then found his voice. "That's... that's not possible. You're a myth. You're not real. A tale told to rookies to scare the pants off of us. 'Screw with the Time Lines and the Lords of Time will take you away.' You can't be real."

The Doctor turned to Jack in bemusement. "Really? Is that what they think of me?"

"Well, not you specifically. He's shaking with the thought of what you are. If you said who you were he'd likely piss himself. I nearly did when you and Rose finally explained it to me. Well, after it sank in. Didn't help much that I was on the TARDIS at the time."

Daven's eyes fairly bugged out. "Oh my bloody God. She's real. She has a TARDIS. Jack... that's where you went... oh my God. Oh my God..."

Martha slapped the man and brought him out of the hysterics. "Answer the Doctor! Where is my husband... the one you replaced?"

Daven's stilled as he looked from Martha to the Doctor with wide eyes. He didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. Fear had frozen him to the spot as he stared at the woman. _The Doctor_. The Time Lord. Who the Daleks feared and named the Oncoming Storm. Names so old and a being so old... the Last of the Time Lords... and the Endbringer. _Oh God, oh God, oh God_ , ran through his mind unable to focus on anything else. Martha slapped him again and he felt lucid thought enter again. He cleared his throat, still shaken, but said, "I swear we didn't know."

"Know what?" asked the Doctor, annoyed.

"That you had anything to do with this!"

"I didn't until you did. What ever you and your friends did brought me here. It attracted my attention, now out with it," demanded the Doctor.

"Oh my God, the rookie stories are true. You do come to get us when we act out," he paled. "I'm so sorry. Give us a chance and we'll fix it."

The Doctor put a hand on the bridge of her nose. "What did you do exactly?"

"We came here..." he started to explain. "We ran away. The Time Agency isn't what it used to be. Not like what they promised at all. We just wanted to get away from it. We meant no harm."

"Rogue Time Agents," mused the Doctor. "Now I know what brought the TARDIS here. Let him go, Jack."

"What?!" asked Martha in shock. "But what about Mickey?"

"I already know where he is and why they are here. We don't need him," answered the Doctor.

* * * * * * *

The Doctor walked alone to the mansion. She had given Kel Davens only ten minutes head start and then she told him she would be following to talk to the others. And Mickey Smith and the others from the town that they had 'replaced' had best be safe and unharmed and ready to return to their lives when she got there - or they would truly know the meaning of the name Oncoming Storm because the clap of thunder would follow them to the end of time itself.

She didn't like issuing threats like that but sometimes it helped stop violence before it started. Judging by the terror in his eyes when Jack released him, she guessed he was already telling the others and likely making sure the people in town were back where they were supposed to be. Even if he had to do it himself.

Walking up to the steps of the mansion, she pushed open the main door before the butler had time to react and walked in. She could hear Kel telling the others in a frantic voice about her, already finished his tale and trying to tell the others that she was real, dammit, and she walked into the middle of the conversation.

He stopped dead in the middle of the word he was saying and backed up. "Too late," he whispered.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, and I believe you are, like me, not a local here. Now. About the missing people in town," she began nonchalantly, calmly, using what ever intimidation she had and using the threat like a cloak.

The other three stood up, feeling the psychic power barely contained in her tiny frame. They were all marginally trained and so could feel it like the oppressive weight of a thunderstorm in the distance. Kel whimpered in the corner, but held himself still and steady. The others looked at him and then to her. Thankfully none went for their weapons.

"My God, he was right... you are real," said the woman finally. "Not what we were expecting with your reputation and all, but... still very real."

"You're fugitives from the Time Agency."

The woman silenced immediately, her eyes widened as she looked from Kel to the Doctor again. "She knows. How does she know?" asked another man.

"If you know who I am and what I am, then you know I always come back, no matter the odds. I am the Doctor. She who sees all that was, is, will and can be. It's simple beans to know where you came from and what you've been doing here," she answered cooly.

"I thought the Doctor was a man," said another one. "I know he's a he... all our records said it was."

The Doctor shook her head. "I transcend everything. I've had many faces, and they're all mine."

"Are you going to drag us back?" asked the fourth one. "You'll have to kill us to do that."

She let the aura of intimidation fade, and they all relaxed a bit, slightly. They were still confused and scared of her, but with the sudden feeling of the storm dissapating they were more at ease. "No. I'm not," she answered. "I'm not without mercy. I'm also a rogue with my own people."

With that admission they relaxed completely but threw confused glances around. "Then what are you going to do?" asked Kel.

"Nothing, so long as you return all the people you replaced to their rightful places, including that of one Mickey Smith who travels with me. The one Kel replaced earlier," she pointed to him. "And you do not alter the Gold Rush. You cannot alter the time stream, not even to line your pockets to get a fresh start. You can live out your lives here, if you want, but only if you mix in and not change things. There is enough space here, enough places to hide. But you can never used those again."

She pointed at the Vortex Manipulators. "If this is what you want then you take it one hundred percent. Or you go back. Anything else is not just stealing from these people but all of history, and as a Time Lord, I can't allow that. But I'll help you with what I can. I've already got one rogue Time Agent, what's a few more?"

Moments later, Kel left and then came back with Mickey Smith. The others also blinked out, and then back in, each with the person they had replaced. She nodded and then, motioning to Mickey, she turned and walked away. Mickey followed her out of the mansion and then, when she slowed, he caught up with her and walked beside her. She took off the sling and flexed her arm cautiously, before handing him the sling.

Martha ran over and hugged Mickey as Jack walked over and stood just beside and behind the Doctor.

Amy and Rory walked with them.

"You think they'll do as you ask?" asked Jack.

"The timelines are stabilized," she answered. "So I think so."

They returned to the TARDIS, and then the all that was left in the street was the sound of a windstorm.

. **.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter;
> 
> 3 - THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (Part One)  
> Travelling to parallel worlds is supposed to be impossible, but when the Doctor and Jack end up in Pete's World 20 years since the supposed death of Ten-point-five and Rose, they are surprised to find a world that fell to a plague with very few survivors - can the Doctor solve the mystery before it claims her human Companions - River and Jason - as well?


	3. Through the Looking Glass (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travelling to parallel worlds is supposed to be impossible, but when the Doctor and Jack end up in Pete's World 20 years since the supposed death of Ten-point-five and Rose, they are surprised to find a world that fell to a plague with very few survivors - can the Doctor solve the mystery before it claims her human Companions as well?

"So... as we've seen... you have this tendency to, well, you know... not drop us off at all and, as such, completely miss your intended target in both time and space," began Amy. "Are we ever going home, Doctor... out of curiosity...?"

For a moment the Doctor stopped and looked over at Amy and Rory. "I'm sorry... I never thought about it. I just assumed..." she took a breath, and they could see the barely hidden horror in her eyes. "Did you want to?"

"It's not that we don't enjoy seeing you again," started Rory. "But we have little Vanessa to think about, and, well, Amy never did get to tell her father and mother that we're indeed okay."

"But Rory... time machine... I could have you both back not five minutes after that phone call and there would be worlds to see," the Doctor cried, then caught the sparkle and the teasing in their eyes. "Oh you rascals."

"Well, Doctor, you have to admit, you do have a tendency to miss," said Mickey. "I remember being a murder suspect simply because twelve hours later was actually..."

"Don't even go there," pointed the Doctor, straight at Mickey. "And that was a lifetime ago."

"For you maybe," muttered Mickey. Then, with a thumb on his chin, he grinned at her affronted look. "And what is up with actually being able to pull off a cheap trick for Martha to prove your oh-so-impressiveness and get that right when you couldn't even get..."

The lights suddenly went dark in the TARDIS, blinking and and going on and off. The Doctor ran down the halls, the three on her heels, just as Jack was coming out of his room. "Hey, Doc, you screw up the wiring of the lights again?" he asked as he was ran past by all three before joining them.

The Doctor ran into the console room, dancing around the console and flipping switches before she stared into the rigged up computer screen - that she had 'borrowed' from Mickey's laptop - and shouting, "No! It's... it's not possible."

"What?" asked Jack and before he had a chance to finish, he and everyone else had the gut wrenching sensation of the ground falling away underneath them.

There was a brief moment of weightlessness as the TARDIS itself moaned, and then with a groan it crashed and then they all fell to the floor. With a groan, Jack rolled over just as the Doctor was also pulling herself to her feet and looked into the monitor. Martha ran in, her hair still dripping wet, as did River Song and Jason, the male companion who had been tortured in the Doctor's stead before everyone had realized that she was the Doctor and not he.

Jason helped the others up and then they all looked at each other as River and the Doctor looked at each other in confusion. "What the hell was that?" asked River.

The lights were low, and the Doctor looked around. "We're on emergency power... we've crashed and I have no idea how it happened," she answered, clearly as lost as they were.

She walked to the doors and opened them, freezing in horror and shock as she did so. "It's impossible. This is... impossible..." she said.

Mickey walked up behind her and also looked out in shock. "It's Pete's World."

Jack pushed his way through them, and looked around, picking up a discarded paper as he did so. Martha looked around as did Amy and Rory. Then with a laugh, Amy said, "Look, Rory, it's the CN Tower... you always promised me you'd take me to Toronto."

With a tilted head, Amy laughed and raised her eyebrows at her favourite nurse as she was wont.

Mickey also looked around, with a laugh as he realized the differences. "Wow, talk about a missed target, Doc. Not only did you land us here again, but we're not even remotely close to England. We're in Canada."

"It's not as far off as you think," chuffed the Doctor. "Lots of similarities. English isn't that different... sure, they have a different accent, but parliament, they even still technically are under the Queen. Although I can't say for sure how it works in Pete's World. Canada might have the Queen... or King... and England a President. How funny would that be?"

Martha rolled her eyes, but saw that Jack was frozen in horror from the newspaper. "What is it, Jack?"

Jack held the paper up for all to see. The headline clearly stated in finality UNKNOWN VIRUS WIPES OUT UK AND MOST OF EUROPE. WORLD LEADERS FEAR ALIENS. He then whispered, "It's dated for 2043. When did you leave Rose here...?"

Mickey answered darkly, "It was 2023 when I left this world."

The Doctor was quiet as she walked back into the TARDIS. "That would mean they're dead..." said Martha before she chased after the Doctor. "Doctor... oh... I'm so sorry..."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

The console room was dark and silent, and it was the first time a few of them had seen it that way. It didn't stop the Doctor from running around the console trying to coax life back into the TARDIS. She pulled the grating up and slid into the deeper part of the engineering before calling up to them. "Unlike last time... you remember last time, Mickey? Well, unlike that time, there is still life and power down here."

Mickey remembered last time. "Yeah, I remember you coughing up ten years of your life to power a crystal enough to jump start this old ship."

Jack and River looked up sharply at this but the Doctor was already continuing with her own little rant. "That's besides the point. The point is that unlike last time I still have power. Not a lot, mind you, but enough that with a bit of rest and time, the old girl will be back up and running again and we can move on." There was a pause. "On that, everyone stays on the TARDIS until I find out if this little beastie of a virus has run its course or whether it is still active, and if so, how it passes..."

"That's reassuring," mused Jack with a look at Martha and Rory. "Unless it's already too late for us all considering we've breathed the air except for those with a natural immunity or alien immune systems..."

The Doctor came out from under the grating long enough to fix a very harsh glare at Jack. "Sorry, Doc..." realized Jack. "You knew that... you didn't want to alarm us."

"I already knew that as well," pointed out Martha quietly.

River stood up and took a deep breath. "In that case, I will take samples from everyone." She ignored the squawk of protest from the Doctor. "That includes you, sweetie. As well as Jack." She looked at Rory and Martha. "As the other scientific minds on this ship, and thankfully of the medical persuasion, I think you two should lead this investigation."

"Oi!"

"You, Doctor, will be aided by Mickey and Jack in getting this rig up to speed," finished River. "While Amy, Jason and I research the chronology of events from that terminal I know you have on here somewhere for research and such that connects to whatever internet or network there is in the area, so long as you are close enough for such a connection. Us three teams should not only figure out if we have to worry about this virus, but also when and where it came from... plus have the TARDIS up to fighting form should we have to face off with whatever comes... or make a speedy exit."

There was a grumble from below, but Martha and Rory grinned as they realized that the Doctor had been backed into a corner and couldn't figure a way out of it. Nor did she. She was likely grumbling over the fact that she hadn't thought of it herself and River had. Jack and Mickey each slid into the underneath of the TARDIS.

For a long moment, Mickey looked around the engineering part - a part he had never before seen, in wonder and for a long moment knew he was out of his element. Jack appeared only slightly lost, but, as usual, the Doctor was deep into the middle of it and not seeming lost at all. Mickey grinned, trying to knock the feeling of being a third wheel away and said, "So, you point and tell me what needs done and I'll be your reach, yeah?"

The Doctor looked over at him. "I think you'll be more useful than that."

"Really?" asked Mickey, surprised.

"Well, yes, the TARDIS isn't that much different than a computer... oh yes, infinitely more complex, yes, but she has a lot of similarities. The other thing is that she's sentient and can sometimes help you if you know what to ask for. That's the key - not the answer itself but knowing just what to ask and how to ask it," the Doctor answered, smiling.

"Just takes the right touch..." mused Jack.

"Jack, just no."

"But..."

"No, Jack!"

Jack sighed meaningfully and then he went silent. "Pete's World."

The Doctor looked up in surprise, but didn't answer. Mickey was also listening although he had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly where Jack was leading with the statement. Moments later, Jack filled them in and gave voice to the elephant in the room. "Pete's World means the parallel universe. That means Rose, right? And the other you?"

With a nod, Jack received his answer, although the Doctor didn't actually say anything. Perhaps there was nothing to be said.

* * * * * * * * *

The building was tall enough, and still intact enough, to be in without worrying about falling through the floor to one's death. It overlooked London and the broken buildings and landmarks. The damage was horrific and she knew it would be far, far worse before it ever recovered. A sense she had gained from travelling with someone gave her the sickening sinking feeling that this world was falling away and dying.

She was a young woman, and likely doomed to remain so for the rest of her life. She didn't age like others and appeared to be in her mid twenties even if she was older. Her eyes gave her away - eyes that had seen so much and done so much, both bad and good. She wasn't short, more average. Due to lack of sustenance to maintain it, her body was thin. But, she had at least enough to support living so she wasn't rail thin. She was more lean, and the hallmark of her fighting and physical existence was that everything was pulled into supporting what was necessary to maintain that fight and energy.

Her hair, once a bleach blonde, now grew naturally into the deep brown it was naturally. She had pulled it back into a plain pony tail twisted and bound into a tight bun at the back of her neck, although the bun part constantly threatened to escape. Her face was free of make-up, even though she had always favoured it when younger.

Before, she had been Rose Tyler. Shop girl, then time traveller with the Doctor. Now she was like everyone else - a survivor and warrior against those the virus had ravaged and turned into something else as well as the man responsible.

And perhaps that was the true tragedy was what he had become in the end.

She stared at the display in disbelief. It wasn't why she had come here - she had come here to escape and see if any of the alien technology or even the experimental, the classified, had survived the dissolution of civilization. The blinking light on the display, which showed activity of a very specific kind in Toronto... not far from Torchwood Five actually... was thoroughly unexpected and she felt her spirit soar.

A noise behind her caused her to whirl, and the figure that walked calmly forwards and towards her caused her eyes to widen in fear and horror. How had he known to follow her here. She raised the gun, although it was an empty threat. She had nothing by way of ammunition, but perhaps the bluff would make him stop just long enough for her to run.

"Rose..." started the figure as he stepped into the light of the sun, his voice sad and quiet.

She made to pull the trigger in warning, but he moved so quickly... the Time Lord half of him fuelling the reflexes that she could barely track the movement... before he was there, and the gun was pointed to the ceiling. He was close enough that she could smell him. Unlike her he had showered and dressed in fresh clothing. Black jeans and jumper... so much like his last incarnation but yet nothing like him.

The half Time Lord, half human man looked up at the monitor and started to laugh. He looked so much like the Doctor that it made her heart hurt. And she had fallen for the meta-crisis just as hard. Like her, he didn't age like human anymore. Unlike her... "So, he came back," was all the meta-crisis Doctor said as he knocked the gun from her hands and grabbed her arm. "Come on, Rose, it looks like we are going to Toronto."

* * * * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * * * *

It had been a long day in the fact that everyone had worked like mad to do their parts until finally, one by one, they had all retired from sheer exhaustion and gone to bed. Only Jack and the Doctor remained in the console room, although Jack was busily snoring in her chair by the fireplace of the secondary study that also served as the console room. The Doctor was the only one awake by virtue of biology although the maintained stress of concentration was beginning to make her go cross-eyed with eye strain.

Which was a feat in itself. Normally a Time Lord did not get eye strain but yet she was achieving it.

The other Time Lords, had there been other Time Lords, would be greatly amused if the stiff backed gits had a sense of humour. She had to agree with her grandfather there - they were all stuffy bastards and neither he nor she had ever really fit in.

Was a common issue in Lungbarrow. If memory served, her grandfather, the original Doctor's, mother had come back from a wander shortly before the Doctor had been born. It was a common rumour... again... for stiff necked prudes to gossip still took much and didn't fit with the Time Lord sensibility, but still... the timing of her return and then the subsequent birth of the Doctor was rather... interesting of note.

Strange.

Now where had that thought come from? Ah yes, her grandfather's memories of course. They were now hers. All that was in his head for memories now resided in hers and there was so much to remember she was amazed she balanced her own memories and his. It came down to simple association.

She snorted in amusement at that. She might not talk like him but it didn't stop the tendency of her mind to wander and chatter on like him like he was still there. The Doctor stopped what she was doing, turned around and leaned her back against the console trying to stop the sudden stinging of tears. Dammit but she missed him terribly. The Doctor would have given anything to go back and fight for him to live but she knew that her grandfather's time had come when it had supposed to.

All she could do was be thankful that she'd had the opportunity to run with him one last time...

... and to say good bye to him one last time.

The Doctor wiped her suddenly moist cheeks and fought back a sniffle that she knew would likely be loud enough to wake Jack and the last thing this Time Lord wanted was for him to see her cry. He'd want answers and the answers she knew she would give him in honesty would renew the first argument...

* * * * * * * *

 _"You should tell them the truth."_

 _"I can't."_

* * * * * * * *

The Doctor moved to the opposite side of the console and leaned into the open part, using the insides of the console to muffle the sound of her still quiet but soft and audible sobbing. The soothing hum of the TARDIS tried to console her as she also missed 'her' Time Lord. He wasn't the first one she had lost, but he had easily been her pilot the longest. This one, oh this precious one, was his granddaughter and his first Companion... the one responsible for his softening around the edges and his fondness for humanity.

Now she was the pilot and the TARDIS tried so hard to fill in that gaping hole she could sense in this one as well.

Soon the younger Time Lord's cries quieted and her breathing deepened. The TARDIS continued her mental caresses until she was sure the Doctor was sleeping, and even then continued to soothe like a mother to a fussing child.

But, much to her annoyance, that peace wasn't to last as a sharp knock was heard at the doors of the TARDIS. The Doctor woke with a gasp and wiped the dried tears from her eyes and smoothed out the signs of sleep as she stood up and looked at the monitor to the outside. Jack stood up, stretched and walked over as the knocking only grew more insistent. "Sounds like who ever it is knows we're in here... and knows what it is, Doc," said Jack quietly.

"They do," answered the Doctor as she walked to the doors and opened them.

For a long moment she stared at the trio and took swift note of who wasn't there with them. Jackie hadn't changed much except for the fact that she had let her bleach blonde hair go naturally to silver. Pete was older, thinner, but still hadn't changed much either. There was a young man with them that the Doctor guessed to be Tony, which was Pete and Jackie's son. Jackie was looking the Doctor up and down. Finally the Doctor stepped aside and Jackie led the other two in as the Doctor closed and locked the doors behind them. "So where is he?" asked Jackie when she saw Jack. "And who is this, and new Companion?"

"Not quite," answered Jack, scratching his neck. "Doctor... are you going to tell them or am I?"

With a sigh as Jackie turned to her in shock, the Doctor said, "Hello Jackie... Pete... and this must be your son Tony. It's been years and this is a long story."

"I'd say so," said Pete, his eyebrows lifting.

"Bloody hell... you're a woman!" exclaimed Jackie. "I knew you could change your face but this?"

"As I said, long story," the Doctor held up her hands, placating, and actually quite terrified. She had no idea how Jackie would react and as she remembered Jackie was quite reactive.

"Wait a bloody minute here," started Jackie. "You can't be him. Somehow...."

"When I first brought back Rose, I had originally thought we were gone for twelve hours but it was twelve months and you thought Mickey had murdered her. That was when the Slitheen invaded by taking the forms of people. You remember that?" asked the Doctor. "And then, when I regenerated into a new man, the Sycorax invaded during Christmas and you had to take care of me because I couldn't help but just sleep off the regeneration. Do you remember what I said to you that night after the Sycorax were destroyed by the Prime Minister?"

Jackie stood silently, shocked into silence. "Oh bloody hell, c'mere you!" Jackie pulled the Doctor into a tight hug. "I'm shocked again, I can tell you that."

The ruckus had attracted attention and the first to come out were Mickey and Martha. "Jacks!' exclaimed Mickey as he ran over and they hugged. "Meet my wife... Dr. Martha Jones... well, now Smith..."

Jackie's jaw dropped. "That Osterhagen key girl? Oh, and she's a Doctor too?"

"Yeah, a proper one with a degree and schooling," said Martha, looking at the Doctor. "Not like someone else I know."

"Oi! I'll have you know that a Time Lord has to pass their own battery of tests before being allowed to call one self a Time Lord... otherwise I'm just Gallifreyan... not that there has been a whole lot of 'just Gallifreyan' in millenia even before the Time War," she retorted. "So, I am a Doctor... with an actual education, thank you very much!"

Pete chortled in amusement as did Jackie as she hugged her again. "Oh God, how I've missed you."

"What about the other me?" asked the Doctor when she pulled back.

She caught the darkening looks from Pete and Jackie as they exchanged a look. The Doctor's smile dropped off her face. "Tell me what happened."

 _* * * * * * * *_

Rose watched the meta-crisis Doctor, who she had called John Smith. Or rather, he had called himself John Smith for simplicity sake. "Whenever I needed a human name, I always used that one... well, usually," he had explained with a smile when things had seemed like they might actually work.

John now wandered the lab, running a hand along the edge of the tables, almost aimlessly and without focus. It was like he was still looking for a brain flash or an idea. Something. It was painful to watch as the thoughtful expression was so much like his old self that she had hopes that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't as far gone as she feared he truly was.

She still kept her distance.

What he had become broke her heart and repulsed her. She had no name for what he became but, if he had hopes of her ever calling him the Doctor again he was sorely mistaken. Not that he claimed it. He seemed as puzzled as she, and as alarmed. Even repulsed as if he didn't like what he had become either.

Good.

"Why?" she asked finally, breaking the silence that had grown oppressive in the lab.

He looked up, vaguely annoyed at her interruption and her question. "What do you mean?"

"What happened to us?" she clarified.

"You chose your side, and it wasn't mine," he snarled in response, then took a breath to calm himself. "Oh Rose, why couldn't you see what I was trying to do? Had a little patience?"

"Because what you were doing was... was... it was wrong," she answered. "You weren't trying to help. You were trying to use it."

"Hardly," he answered back, calmly, tipping his hand in an off handed and dismissive gesture.

"The Doctor never..."

"I'm not the Doctor am I?!" he turned on her suddenly, shouting, and she fell silent and wide-eyed in shock. "The Doctor left us here, Rose. He left us behind. Discarded!" He took another calming breath and gained control over his anger, and when he could talk calmly again he continued. "Now I know what that feels like. Oh, I understand now. What he put you through and what he put the others through. But I'll make it right again, Rose. I can prove that I'm as good as he is to you."

Rose swallowed her tears although she could hear the tremble in her voice, and she shook her head. "You never had to prove yourself to me. You were always enough. Why can't you see that?"

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * * *

"At first everything was going so well," began Jackie. "They, I mean Rose and the meta-crisis you, were so very happy. We were happy for them and even happier when he asked her to marry him and she accepted. Pete got his identity in order and even worked for Torchwood while Rose decided to go back to school and do what she wanted... which... thankfully wasn't anything so dangerous as that although still involved I suppose. He was over the moon in joy when she graduated from university, but then again, so were we all."

"What did she take?" asked the Doctor, enthralled by the thought.

"Oh, she went into history and archaeology. Adventurous enough, if you ask me," answered Jackie.

"And quite right too," answered the Doctor with a sad smile.

Pete and Jackie fell silent and the Doctor picked up on it, but didn't ask. It would be better to get an idea of what had happened in chronological order for once. And then figure something out. "I'm sorry, continue," said the Doctor.

"Well, he worked for Torchwood in one part the field and one part their research. She came on board and worked in the field but only in areas where she was required as per the archaeological aspect. Very little combat," answered Pete, and then he let Jackie fill in the rest.

"For years it seemed to go well," said Jackie. "And then Rose got pregnant."

The Doctor leaned back in shock. "His?"

"We thought so," answered Pete. "But..."

"Oh my God," said Mickey, saying what was running through the Doctor's mind.

"I take it he did not take that well?" asked the Doctor quietly.

"No. He didn't," answered Jackie. "Then again neither did any of us. We were disappointed in her. After all of that chasing after you and she goes off and does something stupid like that."

"People make mistakes," said the Doctor quietly. "We would have worked it out... we did... right?"

Pete and Jackie looked at other. "I see," answered the Doctor. "He didn't want to work it out. He was angry, I take it. As in beyond reason. Dammit. This is my fault, I should have known..."

"That she'd cheat on you?" asked Pete. "I'm sorry, not even you could have foreseen that. Especially after all that chasing after you in the first place."

"What happened after?"

"Well, in a personal stand point he fell of the Tyler radar," answered Pete. "Professionally, I'd see him at work and doing his job but it was like he was going through the motions but not actually really all there. Then he started having anger management issues and go off on people with little to no provocation. And then... he simply disappeared for a few months and came back. He seemed a bit more at peace, if a bit older than he should."

"He left on the TARDIS," said the Doctor.

"What TARDIS?" asked Jackie and Pete.

"I gave them a piece of this TARDIS, a piece of the coral strut. A TARDIS is grown, and I assume they were doing so in your world. Given a few years, which by the sounds of things they had, it probably grew enough to fly. Maybe not travel in time quite yet, but enough to fly," explained the Doctor. "Then again, he might have got it to the point where it could travel in time."

"Did Rose know?" asked Jackie quietly.

"She would have had to. She was right there when Donna gave him the coral in the first place," the Doctor smiled. "So full of surprises that one was. What happened to cause all of this?"

Jackie took a breath and walked around the now unfamiliar TARDIS console room. "There was a crash, like the time the Slitheen tried to invade, only there was this virus on board," she explained.

"We had no choice really, he was the most knowledgeable person on staff," mused Pete. "He worked himself night and day, but then it got airborne. He blamed himself for the failure, naturally. I had to pick up the pieces of that. The virus caused mutations, and drastically shortened lifespans, as well as violent insanity. People became feral, and then the animal life became feral or more so. It was like a horror movie only real. Just so real. We watched our world end - there are so few of us now and that is because those few have a natural immunity." Pete took a breath and motioned to everything. "His efforts seemed to slow it, and then he found a vaccine. It was no cure - there didn't seem to be an answer for that - but at least what was left could survive. Those who survived fell into the Dark Ages all over again. We live in walled cities and tribes. We scavenge the dregs of civilization for the basics of survival. But the vaccine had a terrible cost."

"And that was?" asked the Doctor.

"Sterility. So even those who survive can never continue humanity. And so the end of the world came," said Jackie.

"What?" asked the Doctor in shock. "Did he not see that coming...?"

Pete's gaze darkened. "He knew."

Everyone froze in shock at that dark pronouncement. "What?" asked the Doctor, breathless and in shock.

"He knew," answered Jackie. "And, when we asked him, when our new President confronted the former 'saviour' of humanity, he laughed. Not only did he know it could happen, he chose to let it. He said that he saw the flaw in his love for humans and that he intended to fix it."

The Doctor sat down in her chair, hard, and tried to catch her breath as the dizzying reality slammed into her. "What?" she asked again, the tremulous quality making her voice rise. "No... he.. _. _no_... _no_... _no_..."_

Jackie knelt down and finished her tale. "Rose went after him. She never came back. That was five years ago. Jake went after her, and we haven't heard from him either. Thankfully, as our scientists have found, the virus ran its course and doesn't spread anymore. The damage has been done. This world is now dying or already dead and gone."

River Song walked forwards and put a hand on her shoulder. "You couldn't foresee this happening."

"Oh, but I did," said the Doctor. "Not like this and not now... not here... but I knew there was a possibility that I could fall. That it would happen. Oh God, Rose... Jackie..." The Doctor grasped her shoulders suddenly. "I'm so sorry. So very sorry."

Jackie smiled sadly and shook her head. "She's right, you know. He's not you. Even you said that he was born in anger and war. You believed Rose could heal him, and for awhile she did. But, as he said, a very human mistake re-opened that wound and it festered and then killed the Doctor that you left with us. But we prayed and hoped that somehow a miracle would happen... and now you're here, honey. We got our answer."

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * * *

Rose was led with an iron grip on her elbow to the partially grown TARDIS. The console room of the meta-crisis was finished, as was a few other rooms but this TARDIS was still growing and getting her legs. He pushed her in and then closed the doors behind him as he stepped up to the console. "You have a TARDIS," she mused.

"A bit more patience and you would have had me as the Doctor, Rose," he answered sadly. "Here we are. Just in time for a reunion."

He opened the door and Rose saw the painfully familiar form of the blue police box from memory that was now nearly twenty years old. The meta-crisis led her outside, almost as if using her as a shield as the doors opened. Out of the box came a woman and Jack and Mickey, but no one else. For a moment the meta-crisis was surprised but he sensed that it was the woman that was the Time Lord, now that he saw her. He tried to figure that one out and had a mildly amused thought that he had regenerated into a woman.

The other three stared at the two and the Doctor felt her hearts seize. Rose was still alive and she appeared fine although the look in her counterpart was one that made them freeze.

"But where is the Doctor?" asked Rose in confusion.

"She is the Doctor," answered the meta-crisis

The Doctor nodded her head. "Hello Rose," she greeted quietly. Then looked at the meta-crisis. "What have you done?"

"Oh, now she shows concern over this world. Before you never could wait to leave it, as well as the people in it, behind," the meta-crisis answered. "I tried to save it, you know."

"That's not what I heard," said the Doctor taking a step forward. "You can't have fallen this far. Think for a moment and look at Rose. Look at me. Remember who you are."

"Who I am?" he asked, all to calmly.

Near hysterically emotional she could have understood. That kind of emotion she could have understood. It meant he still felt. The stone cold lack of feeling she wasn't sure how to handle. "Very well," he said, his hand and grip causing pain to Rose, and the Doctor took another step forward and then he did something she never thought she'd see.

The meta-crisis took a gun from inside the suit jacket he wore over the plain collarless dress shirt and dark jeans and pointed it at the Doctor. "I'm willing to guess that I don't have many regenerations left."

"Actually, I have eleven left," she answered evenly.

For a moment he was a bit surprised and he faltered. "What?" was his answer, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Rose's eyebrows lift.

"Hello grandfather," she finished. "This isn't you. Put it down."

The shock on his face was plain. Clearly, not only had he not expected to find them here but he had not expected to see her in specific. She heard the shocked gasp from behind her. "Grandfather?" said Mickey. "But she said... you said..."

"Now now, Mickey," said Jack, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"When did I die, Susan?" asked the meta-crisis quietly, but without lowering the gun.

That worried her. She knew in her hearts that her grandfather would never, ever, hurt her. Even when she had been younger he had never raised a hand after her father had enlisted in the military when her mother had chosen to pass instead of regenerate. This meta-crisis wasn't lowering the gun which meant some part of him considered shooting her if he was pushed. She closed her eyes and then opened them again. "A long time ago in my time line," she answered. "I took your name. The universe still needs a Doctor... you could..."

"No."

"But..." she looked up at him in hope.

He laughed, and it was a dark laugh. One that wasn't actually seeing the humour in the situation but because he didn't seem to know what else to do. Or perhaps he did and it was just lost on the rest of them. At first, she worried that he was insane... but, no. She could see that he was still very sane.

Just... fallen.

She felt her hearts skip, not in hope but in the realization of what he'd become.

"No, you're the Doctor," he said. "And, honestly, and I speak from the bottom of my hearts. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean heart since I've only got the one. But still... honestly... couldn't think of a better person to carry that legacy."

She smiled slightly as she looked at Rose. "Let her go, grandfather."

"I'm not your grandfather. I'm just a cheap copy!"

"No you're not!" yelled the Doctor. "Don't you ever think that."

"But I am. I'm born to war and born to hatred. And then, when my purpose was up I was discarded. I was even born from being used as a receptacle so he wouldn't have to change for her," he grasped Rose's arm again causing the woman to gasp in sudden shock and pain. "I'm not the Doctor. I never was the Doctor - that was an illusion that was to placate me and her - and even she wasn't fooled by it... not for long."

The Doctor swallowed, but he wasn't finished yet. "No, I know who I am; what I am. I am the Valeyard."

"So be it," said the Doctor. "I had hoped it wouldn't be me to witness it."

He smiled. It wasn't a sneer. He was too cold for that. He backed into his TARDIS and pulled Rose with him, and Jack and Mickey took aim. As his TARDIS dematerialized she watched it from the outside. It reminded her of the first time her Doctor had left her with David. She closed her eyes putting her hand where it had been before turning around to face them, tears in her eyes.

Jack run over and hugged her as he stared at where the other TARDIS had been. "What's the Valeyard? I got the feeling you knew what it meant."

"The Valeyard is an enemy that the Doctor hoped to never become but knew one day, somehow, he would," she answered, staring into nothing, like _he_ would have. "The Metacrisis has become the Doctor's worst enemy. His own shadow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite what this chapter (and perhaps the following) shows - I am a Rose/Doctor fan. Sometimes I did question the direction her character was going, but I did still like her anyway. And Martha and Donna... I never played favourites between the three of them. It's just what happens in this chapter serves the purpose of the season, and she could make that mistake with him and I can see this as the meta-crisis's reaction to it.
> 
> Unfortunately... people do make mistakes, and these mistakes lead to long lasting and huge issues in the long run.
> 
> In the next chapter;
> 
> 4 - THE SHATTERED MIRROR (Part Two)  
> Leaving the dying Pete's World behind, the Doctor and her Companions must chase the Valeyard through time to retrieve Rose Tyler as well as stop the virus that he has brought into their world.


	4. The Shattered Mirror (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4 - THE SHATTERED MIRROR (Part Two)  
> Leaving the dying Pete's World behind, the Doctor and her Companions must chase the Valeyard through time to retrieve Rose Tyler as well as stop the virus that he has brought into their world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the formatting is starting to iron itself out all of a sudden...

* * * * * * * *

**ACT FIVE**

* * * * * * * *

A very quiet Doctor walked back on the TARDIS and leaned on the console. No one broke the silence as they could see the pain written clearly on her face. Memories flooded her from both the Doctor and of Arkytior, who had become Susan Foreman and then the Doctor herself in her grandfather's stead. Only once did she see the Doctor come close to falling so far as this one clearly had.

Mickey stepped forward. "Why'd you call him grandfather? Why'd he call you Susan and say of anyone to take that name in his stead that it'd have to be you? Aren't you the Doctor?"

Jack looked at her sadly. He might have known that would come to light. The timing was bad, really bad. Had she come clean earlier instead of in this crisis... But then again it just wasn't in her nature to share feelings or full histories. Just like him. How very fitting. Jack took a breath. "She's enough of the Doctor to matter," he said. "Now is not the time for this."

"To hell it isn't," said Amy. "Not that I don't trust her knowing this little detail. But if we're going against him then we need to know the truth. All of it. Where is the Doctor? The real Doctor?"

"He's dead," answered the Doctor. "He ran out of regenerations years ago and died in my arms."

She turned to face them.

"But you're a Time Lord," said Martha. "He said he was the last... except... oh..."

She smiled thinly. "Yeah. Me. His granddaughter whom he left on twenty second century Earth to live out a life with a man she'd fallen in love with until that man died of age and I finally understood what his pain was and why he maintained his distance," she answered, then murmured to herself. "And then he did the same as me with Rose."

"So... how many regenerations did he have after that one?" asked Jackie sadly.

She had like that one. Maybe not what his meta-crisis had turned into, but certainly the Doctor. Even the previous one in the leather jacket had also grown on her as much as they got on like oil and water. "Three," answered the Doctor. "All Time Lords get thirteen incarnations, or twelve regenerations. Thirteen faces, of which each one, well, except the first, get nearly two hundred years of life if the Time Lord is careful. Unlimited in time, if not regenerations, if they stay on Gallifrey but with the loss of Gallifrey that was no longer possible. For example, my grandmother... his wife... was rumoured to have been at least five to seven thousand years his senior if the rumours were true and no one was brave enough to ask Patience for the truth. Not even him."

Jack looked up, a smirk on his face. "His wife's name was Patience?" he asked, looking at Martha who was trying desperately not to smile and was in fact holding a hand over her mouth to hide it. "That's... that's a really apt name for the woman. Was she called that before or after she was married to him?"

"Our word for it is bonded, but it was her name before," the Doctor glared at them both but it was without heat. "And yes, we thought the same as you are now. So did she when she realized just what she had been bonded to fully."

There was a another moment spent in silence as the Doctor wiped at her eyes. "Damn. All these years and it still hurts like a hot poker to the left heart."

There was a reciprocating sniffle from Amy and Jackie, but it was Martha's hand on her shoulder. "When he died I took his name. The universe needs the Doctor and I wasn't about to let his legacy end. After awhile I simply became him in not only name but also through his memories. I have them all. What was in his head is now in mine from beginning to end," she said. "And the TARDIS also became mine."

"Where was he buried?" asked Rory.

"Ah... I took him back to a time before there was a Stonehenge and buried him there," she smiled. "Then I built Stonehenge around him. Fitting tribute."

"Are you tellin' me that this entire time no one, and I mean no one, could figure out what Stonehenge was or what it was for and it was his grave this entire time?" asked Jackie in wordless shock. "Bloody hell girl... oh, it's definitely fitting."

"Never forgotten even in mystery - like he was in life the effects of him touch everyone without them knowing he was there. Like the Doctor in life so Stonehenge is in his death," said the new Doctor. "And then the legacy never ends."

"Can we stop him?" asked Pete.

"From what?"

"From whatever he is planning... stop him from ruining your grandfather's legacy?" asked Pete. "Maybe if we kill him now... much as it pains me to think it... or go back and stop him from turning like he does..."

"No. He is my grandfather's fixed point. What happens now must or my grandfather never meets the Valeyard in the past and what happens then between them will never come to pass. The rest will never unfold," the Doctor closed her eyes. "Even now I can see that shining thread as it twists back again. My parentage and bloodline now comes full circle."

"But stopping him now doesn't add up into stopping him from whatever he does in the past... or his future, blimey this is confusing," said Jackie. "It doesn't stop his Fixed Point. Maybe you can still save this world."

"Jackie..." the Doctor shook her head. "I can't. If he didn't do whatever it was he did to cause this you and Pete would never have had to pray for your miracle strongly enough to draw this TARDIS here. I wouldn't be here, now, if not for that Fixed Point. And that's what it is. I can't change that. I'm so very sorry... but even if I could it would mean crossing my own time line and what could happen from that is so much worse that what he caused here. All I can do now is stop whatever he plans to do in his future so long as it is a shared future. Anything he does now in my personal past I can't change. It would unravel the whole of time and I'm not strong enough to prevent something like that by myself. If there were other Time Lords, or if Gallifrey hadn't been destroyed..."

The room was silent again, of course... only now the silence was uncomfortable. "Don't mistake my intent, though. I would. I want to. But, it could cause far more harm than good. But, as you said, stopping whatever he is planning now and catching him in that act will not equate to preventing the Fixed Point of him going back in the past to be my grandfather's worse enemy," The Doctor flipped a switch and the lights came on in the TARDIS. "Let's go save Earth."

* * * * * * * * *

**ACT SIX**

* * * * * * * * *

Rose woke and then pushed herself off the grating of the new TARDIS. His TARDIS. A part of her heart broke with the realization that, despite their plans so long ago, they would never travel the stars and through time as the Doctor and Rose. There wasn't even a proper Doctor anymore. Her tears fell while she listened, hearing the manic footsteps of a stranger as the Valeyard, like his counterpart from so long ago, ran around the console.

_The Doctor is gone - he's dead_.  It kept running through her mind.

She wiped the tears away and looked at him. He looked so much like the other one. For years, he had seemed it was him. And then Rose... it was her fault really. She couldn't imagine what he had felt when she, too, had betrayed him and left him behind.

She knew what the Valeyard intended to do. Somehow, the Doctor - this new one - had fallen through a crack between the universes. The Valeyard was attempting to find it and force his way through to the other side. "You can't," she began. "Remember... remember all those years ago when you told Torchwood yourself what this would do?"

He waved it off with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You know, I once mourned the loss of my people. I was the Last of the Time Lords," he began, musingly, almost sadly.

He sounded so much like he used to all those years ago that she couldn't help but look at him with a small spark of hope. Maybe he wasn't completely lost. "I remember," she said as she stood up. "I was there to help you with it."

"But I'm not the last anymore. And that woman, the one calls herself the Doctor, proves that," he finished. "Second to last. Not that I'm completely a Time Lord."

"Is that so bad?"

He was quiet for a long time. "No and yes," he admitted. "You do know what it means for her to be the Doctor, right?"

"He's dead," she answered. "Gone permanently. No regenerating out of it."

"Yep," and he popped the "p" like he always used to. "She is his granddaughter. And I mean that quite literally. The daughter of his son, a real son. Born by him and his wife Patience -- and 'Susan' is the daughter of that son, like I said."

Rose filed that vaguely amusing piece of information away for a later date with a lifted brow, but didn't interrupt him. He was full on ranting now, like he did when he recalled his family and Gallifrey.

"The only one. His wife, the daughter-in-law, died and he chose to enlist in the military to protect Gallifrey. Never saw him again. Well, except once when he was arrested in his second incarnation. So full of fire he was. Full of anger for taking her away from them. But she wanted to see the stars before being forced to settle down. Fate saw that she stayed in the stars instead of returning to Gallifrey. Saw her once after that in my fifth incarnation then again in my eighth when she called be back to meet my great-grandson. Wanted me to take Alex back to Gallifrey for a 'proper' education." The musing mood broke suddenly and he turned on Rose. "Should have taken what she said as a warning then. Her husband had died of age. Even her adopted, human, children had passed of age. All that was left was her and her son of that family. Should have gone back to Gallifrey, stayed there. Stayed there when it burned."

"You'd be dead now," she pointed out, distressed by what he said.

"And that's not a good thing how?" he shouted back at her. "If I had never met you I wouldn't be here. Wouldn't be... this... wouldn't have fallen for you and had you turn on me."

With that he fell silent and brooded by the console. She put her hands to her lips, crying now at the obvious role she'd played in his fall. "If not for you I wouldn't be here at all, you know. I would have let myself regenerate fully and not held on for dear fucking life to stay the incarnation that was made for you, and then, given you two to choose from. Again, made just for you," he in a low voice, still full of the anger and emotion it had been. "Made to have my single heart shattered by you."

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "How many times do I have to say it?"

She turned away and leaned on the rail that surrounded the console, letting the tears fall but not wanting him to see them. She didn't hear him leave his place by the console, walk around to the other side to where she was or walk up behind her and move very close. He put his arms around her like he had so many times before as both the proper Doctor and the meta-crisis. It used to bring her comfort. "I could have been your Doctor, you know," he said quietly. "Only so much more."

He spun her around to face him and lifted her chin. "I could be what he never was. The Doctor was a coward." She shook her head and he nodded. "You and I both know it. He never could tell you what he felt, so he ran. He always ran, both literally and figuratively. Hid behind that mask that you hated and loved at the same time. I am the Valeyard. I don't run. I don't hide. I don't let others do what I can do for myself. I confront and I face what the Doctor never, ever could. Never would. Because I have to." He turned away and walked back to the console. "I'll do what the Doctor never thought of doing because he'd have run from the very idea."

Rose looked at him, her eyes widening in horror at the realization of just what he meant. She shook her head, visually refusing what she couldn't voice. He nodded again, and smiled the little half smile he had come to use instead of the full grins his counterpoint was known for. "I know how to do it too," he pointed out. "It's a bit messy, considering the paradox it will cause, but I can be what you want. All you need do is say so."

"You're not my Doctor. Not the proper Doctor. He'd never consider this and he'd know, without me saying it, how I feel. He never needed to prove himself."

"Oh please, I have his memories. I remember how you lost hope when I first regenerated and it took coaxing. How is this different?"

"You'll never be him - even if you get two hearts - you'll never be the proper Doctor," she said. "I can see that now. You can never be him because this is a line he wouldn't cross because he knows he can't."

Again, his mood turned violently and, before she had time to brace herself, his hand was hitting her cheek in a backhand slap hard enough to knock her flying and make her taste blood. "No one tells me what I can and cannot do!" he shouted at her.

Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she held her hand to her bruised cheek and said, "I know that now. I'm sorry I failed you. Both of you."

* * * * * * * *

The sound of the TARDIS materializing filled the Plas in Cardiff where four people stood waiting. When the doors of the blue police box opened Gwen stepped forward as the Doctor and Jack Harkness stepped outside. Jack hugged the both of them in turn.

Moments later Pete, Jackie and Tony stepped outside. Jack nodded at Gwen and then turned to Pete. "I can't make you as rich as you were in your world, but I've explained it to some friends of mine and the Doctor's. They can give you three a decent restart here. You can even be part of Torchwood if you want," he said.

Pete turned to the Doctor and shook her hand. "It was a pleasure... I'd say again but I suppose it isn't. But it was an honour to meet you, and an honour to know the... him. Who you are."

"Am I?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, I believe so," answered Pete. "As as much as he is responsible for and how far he has fallen, he was right about that one thing as well. You are the right one for this. His legacy. The right one to continue it. Don't let anyone tell you different."

"What he said, honey," agreed Jackie as she hugged the Doctor. "Don't be a stranger. I mean that. You fix this like you always have - and you will, I have no doubt - and come back and see us."

"If I might interject, but did I hear correctly in that this lovely young lady is the Doctor?" asked the older man with them.

The Doctor looked at the man and felt her back straighten a bit in respect. She didn't salute, although she saw that Jack had sort of done while both Mickey and Martha looked on in shock and surprise. Beside him stood Sarah Jane Smith, who undoubtedly had been the one responsible for bringing him here in the first place. "Brig."

"I'll take that as confirmation," answered Sir Alistair. "My God, but 'you've changed' hardly covers this."

"It's a long story," she answered, smiling - truly smiling for the first time in awhile.

"Yes, and Sarah told me on the way here," Sir Alistair said. "I'm both sorry for your loss and honoured to properly, at last. And I am so sorry. His... was the greatest loss of all. Now what's the plan?"

For a moment she had to think but then remembered, a truly warm smile spreading across her features. She had met this man before as Susan, not the Doctor. It had been a really long time, longer for her but no less significant in time for him when she and five of the incarnations of the Doctor, plus his Companions at the time, had been 'scooped' from their time lines and dumped in what had been known as the Death Zone on Gallifrey. She remembered feeling impressed in both the fact that her grandfather had continued to travel with humans and the resourcefulness of this one. She also remembered numerous wondering glances in her direction until it had been made obvious just who she was.

They were both so much older now.

"Well, I'd hate to break this up but we can't afford to have a reunion right now," said Jack. "Gwen, take the Tylers to the Hub."

"Thank you Jack," said the Doctor as the Tylers walked past her and to Gwen and Alonzo.

"Thank me later when we get through this, Doc. You aren't getting rid of me yet."

Jake also didn't move, and the Doctor looked at him. Jake grinned. "You aren't getting rid of me so easily either. Even if Torchwood gives me a new identity and my job back, which was there anyway, it's best if I don't go anywhere either. When this goes down with the Valeyard, or whatever he's calling himself now, it's not going to be pretty and you'll need me here."

There were two shocked voices in the form of Sarah Jane Smith and Sir Alistair. "The Valeyard?!" erupted from both of them.

Sir Alistair finished, "Mr. Harkness, when you said there was an emergency headed our way and that UNIT would be needed you didn't specify that it was him. How?"

The Doctor turned, and looked at Sarah. "He's the meta-crisis of the tenth Doctor. It was him the whole time. The darkness that ate at the tenth from the Time War, from losing Rose and from everything in between pushed him over the edge," answered the Doctor, then she shook her head. "Doesn't matter now - but at least you know who to look for. Same face. Only now he prefers more somber colours, more to grey and black than the blue pinstripe suit or even the brown one. He also has Rose."

"Rose went with him?" asked Sarah. "Oh, I'm so..."

"Not by choice," interjected Mickey. "The Valeyard took her as hostage."

Sir Alistair took a breath and then let it out in one breath. "All right. I'll tell those I can trust, and who know who to look for, to keep an eye out. I take he's like the Valeyard of old... the one that tried to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations a long time ago? How does he get from this time line to being part of that one?"

"He'll cross the time lines," answered the Doctor. "What the hell? He's already broken and cracked the universes to get here. By fate alone the death of the other parallel is healing those fractures so we should be safe in this one. If he had no problem killing not only an entire world but another parallel itself, crossing time lines and causing paradox is a walk in the park. And that should be your warning. If you see him, tell me... do not attempt to stop him or even approach him. He'll kill anyone who gets too close unless it serves some purpose to leave them alive."

"You'll have to stop him," stated Sarah Jane, not even wording it as a question - the answer was obvious.

"I know," answered the Doctor darkly.

* * * * * * * * * *

**ACT SEVEN**

* * * * * * * * * *

Once organized, it was a simple matter to send what had once been called the Doctor's Children of Time to anywhere and any-when to look for the signs of the Valeyard's interference. The only ones remaining on the TARDIS were Jack, Martha and Mickey.

Much to everyone's surprise, it had appeared this Doctor did not have one TARDIS but two, although the other was slightly newer but no less travelled in. On that one was Amy, Rory, River and Jake.

The Doctor remembered their reaction to the TARDIS with a wistful smile.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Where did you get this one?!" exclaimed Martha as she put her hand on the shape, so different from the blue police box.

"Ah, that used to belong to the Master a long time ago. Can be a cross and contrary thing, sometimes. Liked me better than him anyway."

Martha and Jack looked at her in dull shock. "How did you get the Master's TARDIS?"

"Well, before I was the Doctor, when I was simply Susan Foreman-Campbell, the Master decided to kidnap me and he took me away from my family on 22nd century Earth. To this day I'm not sure why, but then again Koschei never did really need a real reason to do anything," sighed the Doctor. "In both sets of memory -- the Doctor never did understand him either, much as they got on in their very younger days -- and to this day I don't know why he grabbed me. I don't think he knew who I was," she mused, with a small smile on her face. "Anyway, he took me to a moon. I fought him. Killed him, left him on the moon and took his TARDIS and went back to Earth. Never had much use for travelling so left it here just in case I did. Had a family at that point and didn't relish the thought of leaving them."

Martha looked at her in surprise, and a smile on her face. "You killed the Master and stole his TARDIS?" she asked, chewing her lip, chuckling while she did so. "In short, that's what you're telling us?"

"Well, yes," answered the Doctor. "Oh, my grandfather was in his eighth incarnation then, and this was before the Last Great Time War. She was sullen at me for years and then a bit after the Time War she finally allowed me inside again. I think she was lonely. And then occasionally she would allow me to fly her. Finally, she and I came to an understanding... but... grandfather died and I inherited this TARDIS." She pointed a thumb to the blue police box. "I have been waiting to find another Time Lord. Or at the very least for Alex to mature enough to earn her." This time she pointed to the Master's TARDIS. "For now, she's agreed to let the four of you pilot her. She understands the gravity of the situation and believes she can help. But only for this and then she's coming straight back here whether we like it or not."

* * * * * * * * *

Fate would have it that she wouldn't inherit the Master's TARDIS now that she had her grandfather's. Even if the Master's was newer... a lot newer... than this old girl she found her best memories were in this one. Her first flight from Gallifrey had been in this TARDIS with her grandfather, also flying it for the first time, in this TARDIS when he had 'liberated' it from being decommissioned. It would so happen it was also, before it had been his, belonged to his mother.

With a heritage like that it was only right she had it now as the only remaining member of her family alive outside of her own son.

The Doctor looked up at the Time Rotor and smiled.

As everything should be.

* * * * * * * * * *

Sir Alistair didn't waste any time. Once he was in the car he was already on the phone to UNIT HQ and talking to Bambera. When Bambera came on the line, he said, "Code Nine."

There was shocked silence on the other end. "Where?"

"Cardiff," he answered. "And this is what she needs -- remember the ATMOS incident, as well as the incident involving Lady Christina?"

"Yes sir, as well as the Doctor very well," answered Bambera. "He hasn't changed?"

"He has -- but there is another him. It's not him. It only looks like him but trust me, you'll know he's different a few seconds after encountering him... and on that -- don't approach, don't engage. He's armed, dangerous, and he has a hostage," Sir Alistair took a breath. "The true Doctor is a woman now, and she actually uses the name where he prefers to go by 'the Valeyard'. Pass that around. She's handling him. What she needs us to do is spot him and alert her. You read me?"

"Loud and clear, sir," answered Bambera. "What about attempts to contain?"

"What part of do not engage didn't you get?"

"I understood, sir, but by contain I mean by not so subtle plain clothes watchers... herders, if you will. If what you say is true about him, as dangerous as he is, he won't want to attract the wrong kind of attention and will attempt to slip them," she explained. "But, if we make a net, we can herd him subtly to where he won't do as much damage when the Doctor confronts him."

"That... that was brilliant," said Sir Alistair. "Do it. Pull out all the stops, use UNIT members who were known to be companions of the Doctor. He'll see them and definitely shy off them."

"Yes sir, I had that thought myself," she answered. "Bambera out."

Sir Alistair closed the phone and turned to Sarah Jane. "The net is cast. If he shows up in this time period we'll find him."

"The Doctor said it was likely given where the cracks opened," she said.

* * * * * * * *

The Valeyard smiled as he opened his eyes, then leaned forward to pilot his TARDIS. Rose looked at him and asked, "Where are we going?"

He looked up and glared at her. "I shouldn't answer, but then again, who are you going to tell?"

She looked at him, then looked around, pointing out that there was no one but them there. "My point. No one," he finished. "Very well, to do what I need to do to gain the ability to regenerate, and have a few to spare, I have to take them from someone. In this time period there is only the Doctor. Much as I dislike my counterpart, I can take hers. Not her fault."

Rose waited him out as he seemed to go back into another brood and then he snapped out it. "Don't mistake me. It's not that I care. I don't," he maintained, as if trying to convince himself as much as her, and it didn't fool either one of them. "But there are no others in this time period. I'd have to go back to before the Time War and find another Time Lord. But I can't punish anyone else for his mistakes. It would have to be his regenerations I take."

Rose felt her jaw drop. "My God, you're going to kill yourself?" she felt her voice rise.

"Sort of. And I have to do it twice," he turned back to the Console. "First I have to break a Fixed Point that involves me to get the power to go back and to make the necessary navigation point to allow it. Even if I had the right power it would be useless without the map to get me there, in other words. I found a suitable fixed point."

With a final flourish he landed his TARDIS and then ushered her outside. It was obviously Earth, and sometime in either the twentieth or twenty-first century. In the distance she saw a very obvious land mark. The golden gate bridge. San Francisco. "Why are we here?" she asked.

"It's 1999, and the dawn of a new century. Well, it will be in a few days. As usual, my Christmas sucks. I'll go from being Seven to Eight tonight. Shot to death in the crossfire of a gang war while chasing the Master," he explained just as the familiar sound of the TARDIS filled the air. "And right on time too. No one will notice an extra bullet or two. Instead of dying at the hospital later I'll make sure it's done right and instant here. A vital meeting will never happen and someone will get away instead of dying. Might even steal the TARDIS. And, in the backlash of the breaking Fixed Point, I will go back to before the Time War and encounter an earlier self and take his regenerations and live the life I was supposed to live. Restart my life and with these memories." He tapped his temple. "With these memories I'll know what mistakes not to repeat."

"You're crazy," she realized. "Completely and totally off your gourd. That would create not one but two Paradoxes... and kill us. I remember the Reapers. You remember the Reaper's right? When I tried to save my father in this universe and it back fired? Where you be yourself? You'd never exist. You can't do this! It would kill you. Please..."

For a moment he hesitated, seeing the pleading in her eyes and hearing it in her voice. Not for her own life, but for once for his. Like it had been before. In the pause she dared hope she had finally reached him and set him aside from this path. "We would be part of our own time line. I would be a full Time Lord once again. And then I could sort it all out later and in the mean time it would be the Doctor and Rose again. Don't you want that?"

"Not like this. Not at this cost."

He smiled, but not the happy grin the proper Doctor always gave her. It was cold again. Lost to the Valeyard. He lifted the rifle and took aim. She watched as a man, a bit of an older man came out of the TARDIS at a run. There were a lot of guns and there was a lot of shooting. The older man was hit by the crossfire in a few different places, and went down. But she could see the injuries were serious, but not life threatening. "Doctor!" she screamed, and the man below lifted his head in surprise and a bit of confusion, rolling over at the last second as the first bullet from the Valeyard buried itself where his head had been a few seconds before.

Rose grabbed the rifle and pushed as the Valeyard tried again, but the shot went wild and up into the air. She knew they were visible, maybe not as anything more distinct than shadows, on the roof from where the Doctor lay and she also knew she was being overpowered. The sirens drew closer and then there were numerous police cars and a few ambulances on the scene. The Seventh Doctor was whisked away, and out of the Valeyard's reach.

With a cry of frustration, he lifted her by the hair and then her waist as he dragged her forcefully back to his TARDIS but another blue police box materialized between and the Doctor, the Fifteenth Doctor stepped out with Mickey and Jack and fixed her best glare on the Valeyard. "Going somewhere?" she asked just as the second TARDIS with River Song also materialized behind him, cutting off his escape.

* * * * * * * * *

**ACT EIGHT**

* * * * * * * * *

The Doctor and the Valeyard stood for a long time just staring at each other before the Valeyard finally broke the silence. "You can't stop this," he finally said.

"I can and I will," answered the Doctor.

"You would have to kill me and you can't. You know as well as I do that I have to meet your former self in the past," he finished.

"That I know as well... as well as I remember... to kill you or stop you going back would cause Paradox, but it doesn't mean I will let you cause another one," the Doctor said as she walked up to him but stopped when he brought up his hand gun and aimed it squarely at her.

Her mournful gaze met his cold one. "When did it happen? When did you let madness overtake you so much that you, of all people, would fall so far. Out of all of us?" she asked sadly.

"That's easy. Seeing as you have his memories, remember this. I did what I had to do and I was abandoned for it. Left cut off from not only another Time Lord but also the TARDIS and the very universe that sang to me. Left behind," he snorted in an aborted laugh. "And quite right too. I'm not like the Doctor. I'm not the Doctor."

She took another step forward and he lifted the gun back up, the sound of it priming loud from so close. "Stay back!" he shouted at her. "I never would be the Doctor. Rose saw that. And when she saw that and proved it to me so succinctly that I wasn't her Doctor... I knew I wasn't who she wanted. Never could be."

"It doesn't mean you're worth any less than he was," soothed the Doctor.

"Oh, I know that," he answered calmly, but with a bit of a sarcastic bite. "It took me twenty years to realize but I am a winner. A Lord of Time, with a human heart and a human's creative flair. I'm not less. I'm more -- and there is no one to stop me. No one to tell me what I can and cannot to because they're all dead now.

The Doctor fixed him with a stare. "There's me."

He laughed, one full of darkness and no humour. "The Doctor. But you're not. You are his granddaughter, Susan, not that it was your name either. A rose and a rose. He had a thing for them, didn't he?"

She nodded. "Let her go. Let the girl who shares my name go," said the Doctor. "Please... " She stopped, catching that she was about to call him 'grand father' but he really, truly was not. "Valeyard, let her go."

It was as if time stood still as he stared at her, frozen in shock. Rose had also froze. It was as if stating it aloud had suddenly caused the whole universe to tilt on its axis. Just like that she had renamed him, or, as he would have had it she had accepted his choice in his name.

Just like that the Doctor, as the meta-crisis died and in his place was now the Valeyard.

He blinked as if waking from a long sleep. With one graceful motion he pushed Rose over into the waiting arms of Martha. He looked around at the others that surrounded him. His eyes settled on River Song, who was holding a gun on him. Thinking quickly, he then aimed at Amy. In one motion, everyone took a step forward, but the Doctor motioned them to stop. "As angry as I am at her betrayal, I could never kill Rose," he said sadly, but then the coolness returned. "But the strange ginger, the young one... I could. Back off. Let me go back to my TARDIS or I shoot her."

"Don't do this... her name is Amy."

"I have places I need to be," he answered, as nonchalant - like he was talking about something as inane as the weather. "A When I am supposed to be part of. You know that."

River shook her head, Jack took a step, mid draw of his gun when the Valeyard turned suddenly, pulled a second gun from his jacket and shot Jack in the forehead, then aimed loosely towards Mickey with the off hand. "Move," ordered the Doctor as she pushed the others that had come with her back into the TARDIS as Mickey dragged the dead Jack inside as well.

The TARDIS blocking the way to his TARDIS dematerialized, and she moved out of his way. He put the guns away, sauntered to his TARDIS. "We both knew this had to happen this way," he pointed out. "Keep a tighter leash on the Professor."

"This isn't finished," said the Doctor.

"Of course it isn't," he agreed as he turned to go into his TARDIS as a bolt pistol round hit him in the middle of the back, just slightly to the left.

In horror, the Doctor knew it to be where the human heart was supposed to be and the blood that she saw on his back as he crumpled was heart blood. Splatter from the force of the shot and the round entering his body and then out of his chest was on her face and clothes as she had been close enough to be hit by the spray. The Doctor turned in shock to River Song who held her bolt pistol, still smoking, at the ready as tears flowed from her eyes. Amy took the hand gun from River and the Doctor said, "What did you do River?"

"I had to," answered River. "I couldn't let him do it. I..."

Seconds later the TARDIS rematerialized and the others came out as the Doctor turned the Valeyard over, holding him. Martha ran over, as did Rose who knelt at his side, holding his hand. Martha looked him over and shook her head. The Doctor looked down, and could see the pain in his face.

He sighed, and wordlessly touched a hand to Rose's tear stained cheek before looking at the Doctor. "Meant... what I said. About you. Is only right you'd carry that name after..."

The meta-crisis closed his eyes. Susan continued to rock him as he stopped breathing.

* * * * * * *

Sarah Jane Smith stood in the glassed in meeting room of the Torchwood Hub in Cardiff, pacing from it to the steel walkway and back again when she heard the unmistakable sound the TARDIS materializing. She ran outside of the room to the catwalk and leaned on the steel rail as the familiar blue box faded into existence. Waiting silently with the younger ones she often had as help herself, as well as Sir Alistair, the doors opened as the Doctor carried out the Valeyard and laid him down. "It's over now."

Sarah nodded sadly before she ran inside and brought out a sheet. "With him being dead... isn't that Paradox?" she asked quietly as Rose came out from Jack's office.

The Doctor sighed as she looked up at Rose, then Sir Alistair and Sarah Jane and then down at the meta-crisis that looked exactly like the tenth incarnation of her grandfather. "We'll never know now."

The Doctor personally carried the last physical link of her grandfather to the Torchwood morgue and laid him gently on the shelf that Gwen had thoughtfully pulled out for her. She could feel the gazes from the members of Torchwood, as well as everyone else who had known him. The only one not there was River Song. Another thing she had just personally taken care of, and it weighed heavy on her mind. Rose was not far behind her. While no one shed tears, the grief was still an almost physical presence in the room. They didn't mourn, could not mourn, the Valeyard. Just what had been lost before he had become the Valeyard. "It was better that way," mused Jackie, as everyone looked at her in horror. "It was! Think about what the Doctor would have wanted. Would he have wanted to be remembered like this? Or like he was? Before the Valeyard."

No one responded, but the woman had a point. "He wasn't quite the Valeyard," said Rose. "Even still -- he wasn't quite the Valeyard. He had moments where you could see the Doctor still in him."

"What about River?" asked Amy.

"River murdered a man, an alien, in cold blood and will face trial. Likely imprisonment," she answered, smiling sadly. "And so we find out how she ended up in Stormcage... what man she killed."

The Doctor pushed the drawer shut on the body of the Valeyard and turned away from the bank of drawers to face her Companions and the others. She led them out, and was surprised when Sir Alistair took her arm as if to guide her out. She said as they left, "Come on, I feel the distinct need to be someplace... some when... else."

The room's lights were turned out as everyone left and the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing filled the air. Moments later the room was lit from within as a golden light flooded from around the edges of the drawer. But no one noticed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER: 5 - TIMELOCK
> 
> A "Doctor-lite" episode full of flashbacks and memories of the original Doctor as they relive one of his adventures instead (features all 13 Doctors, plus her as the 14th & how she became the Doctor in the end) through the new Doctor as she tells them the tale as the new Doctor comes clean with the rest of the Companions and shows them to his final resting place underneath Stonehenge.


	5. Timelock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A "Doctor-lite" episode full of flashbacks and memories of the orginal Doctor as they relive one of his adventures instead (features all 13 Doctors, plus her as the 14th & how she became the Doctor in the end) through the new Doctor as she tells them the tale as the new Doctor comes clean with the rest of the Companions and shows them to his final resting place underneath Stonehenge.

It was a long ride out to Stonehenge from Cardiff. The Doctor was quiet the entire ride, leading Martha to suspect she'd fallen asleep at first, but a shake of Mickey's head told her that the Doctor was brooding, not sleeping... so Martha returned back to driving her new Volvo. There were a few others behind them, but Martha's Volvo was acting lead. What was unclear was why they couldn't have just taken the TARDIS.

Of course, they weren't the _only_ ones in the car. Sarah Jane sat in the front passenger seat. The mood was unusually quiet; the Doctor wasn't talking - which was in itself unusual - and no one wanted to break her brooding silence.

And there were others behind them. Once the Doctor had told them to meet her at Stonehenge, they had all left Cardiff at roughly the same time. Torchwood had essentially locked the doors behind them, and their two SUVs were somewhere either behind or ahead. There was also Sir Alistair and a few from UNIT.

Sarah Jane broke the silence. "There was nothing you could have done."

"I know," came the quiet answer from the Doctor, as she finally pulled her attention from the window to the others in the car. "How much farther to Stonehenge?"

"Maybe another ten minutes," answered Mickey. "I know, not used to instant travel without the TARDIS?"

"I'm not the only one brooding," answered the Doctor. "Not to mention all that bouncing around from the parallel universe and back on top of chasing after her own child, has taxed her energy and left her reserves critically low. That's why I left her in Cardiff. She's fuelling on the rift again. She's safe where we left her, considering you have her locked in the Hub, plus her own defenses are up."

"What about the other TARDIS?" asked Mickey.

"Which one?"

"His."

"She's... well... mine is keeping a watch over her and helping her through that," the Doctor sighed. "Now I have three TARDISes. And my son is not old enough to pilot either one. I still appear to have one without a pilot. One will end up collecting dust... and eventually dying."

With that the Doctor fell back into her brooding silence. They at least knew what was bothering her so much. It was a cruel choice. As cruel a choice as the original Doctor had had to make to end the Last Great Time War, even if on a smaller scale. Something of her world would have to be allowed to die so another could live. "Is there nothing else you can do?" asked Sarah Jane.

"Not unless I find another Time Lord, no," answered the Doctor.

"We're here," said Martha as they pulled up to the tourist centre not far from Stonehenge itself, parking the car beside the one Torchwood SUV.

Jack stood there with Rose, Jackie, Pete and Tony Tyler. No one said anything, but Jackie walked over and had a death grip on the Doctor's arm. Almost as if she was trying to support the alien woman. The Doctor made no move to pull away. Rose came up, putting a hand on the Doctor's arm. For a long moment they looked at each other before it became too awkward and Rose broke eye contact.

They stood there waiting as the others pulled in. The Doctor kept a mental list of those who had come. Those she told directly - Jack, Martha and Mickey, Sarah Jane, the others of Torchwood. Amy and Rory. Even Jake from Pete's World and the Jake she travelled with, the one from Canada. And, of course, Sir Alistair as well as the Tylers. She was surprised when more cars and vans pulled in and she looked at Sir Alistair in surprise as he came to stand beside her as well. "News, particularly sad news, travels fast my dear."

Sure enough she was surprised to see those her grandfather had known personally from UNIT as well as other Companions from this time period. "Your grandfather had friends," said Sir Alistair. "His long life touched others... saved others..."

Martha could see the way the Doctor's face appeared to be almost pinching around the eyes, but she held herself together. Barely. With a deep breath - and Jackie rubbing at her back - she led them up to the stone ruins and to the very centre. Nervously they spread around the circle as the Doctor moved up to the centre stone and laid a hand on it. "If someone were to dig, they would not find his bones. Gallifreyan funeral rites involve cremation. Only his ashes are here, and, given the time that has passed between interring him here and now, it is likely those ashes have mixed with the Earth," she said, loud enough that it carried to them all but not past the stones. "I find it strange that a major tourist attraction is so empty."

"We might have had something to do with that," said Brigadier Bambera. "UNIT shut down the immediate area to civilians... well... except those of a very select cadre. The world isn't quite ready for this yet but when it is..."

"You will tell them why Stonehenge truly exists," she said. "It was built to honour Time. A monument to those who fell in the Time War against the Daleks. And, while it cannot be their final resting place, it is the final resting place of someone who not only fought in the Time War to protect all of you, but fought, and sometimes had to die, if only to regenerate, to protect Earth over and over again. It saddens me to see it like this, but given how much time has passed since he died and we built it over him... I should not be surprised."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

 ***** * * * * * * *

River Song smiled broadly as she followed the Doctor as they ran through the corridors. He was, at the moment, an older man with silver hair. But he could still run faster than she could. She looked back at the alien that was chasing them. "Doctor, it's catching up with us!" she shouted to him.

"I can see that, River!" he shouted back as he turned, and, running backwards for a moment he took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it up.

The trap sprung on the alien and it stopped running as the energy field captured it. They stopped running. "There, last one, Doctor," she said as she contacted the Orlesians to pick up the stray Mubari.

She turned to face him, smiling even more broadly, but that fell from her face. River ran over to where he was leaning on the wall with one hand, the other on his chest as he fought to catch his breath. "Are you all right?" she asked, alarmed.

There was a small beading of sweat just on his hairline, and he wiped it away impatiently, but nodded his answer. Clearly he was still a bit too winded to talk quite yet. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, although his voice sounded strained, "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"And I'm not in a hurry to see what the next version of you will be like, so let's get you back to the TARDIS," she said in return. "Maybe we can slow down for a bit. Take a nice vacation someplace warm with little umbrellas in our drinks."

"Ooh," he answered, his expression immediately brightening. "I like the sound of that. The beaches on Calindari? Or perhaps Earth in the twenty-fifth century... the Caribbean is nice this time of year..."

She laughed. "You pick - just no adventures this time, all right?"

He led them to the TARDIS and walked in. He had gone back to the library in the console room like his seventh and eighth incarnations. His older body, which had caught up with his older mind and state of mind, liked it this way. She kissed him on the cheek. "Now, why don't you pick that place and I'll make us some tea, sweetie?"

"Sounds wonderful."

River walked into the deeper interior of the TARDIS as the Doctor punched in the coordinates. He was about to trip the handbrake to send them into the Vortex, but caught himself as the pain in his chest which had not abated caught him sharply again. He rubbed his chest, wincing as the TARDIS made concerned sounds. He patted the console once he had his breathing back under his control and the pain subsided. It had been a long time since that particular heart had given him the same issues. He sincerely hoped he wasn't going to have another one sided heart attack like he had six or seven regenerations ago. That had not been pleasant, to say the least. He hadn't regenerated, mind you, but he had wished he had. He could only imagine what one of those must feel to a single-hearted being.

He stumbled over to the chair and sat down heavily after sending the TARDIS into the Vortex on the repaired auto-pilot. Never had be been so happy he had managed to repair that. He didn't think he could pilot the TARDIS right now. Not that River couldn't but that would mean telling her why he couldn't. That wasn't a conversation he needed to have at the moment. He was fine.

He hoped.

A twinge in the other heart alarmed him.

"So... it is to be now, eh?" He leaned his head back and looked up to the ceiling of the console room, and he sensed the TARDIS change course. "Where are you taking me now, old girl?"

There was a soothing flash from the console. Not an adventure then. Hmm. Curious. The TARDIS made it clear that she wasn't taking him someplace that required his help or the intervention of the Time Lord variety. No, in fact, she was taking him somewhere that could help him. "And where is that?" he asked.

With a dull thud and the sound of the engines winding down, she landed.

* * * * * * * *

"River told me she should have known something was up. He never needed to catch his breath, never slowed down. We all knew this. That was the beginning of the end for him and he knew it. I knew it when the TARDIS landed in my back yard... and River knew it when he opened the doors to find themselves on Earth," explained the Doctor.

The other Companions nodded in understanding. The Doctor stopped talking for a moment, closing her eyes and turning her face into the sunlight that shone down on them.

* * * * * * * *

He opened the doors and stepped out, River Song not far behind him. "Doctor, this isn't a beach. This is London."

The cars were electric. The air far cleaner than twenty first century, or even twentieth century, Earth. The technology was obvious as people went about their day to day business, it was invasive and day to day, much like it would be later as humanity reached permanently into the stars and made the leap to other planets.

"Twenty second century London," he answered. "To be exact. A time when the people of Earth finally understood that they couldn't haphazardly destroy their planet and its resources without repercussion. Mind you, this is after they rebuilt after the last Dalek incursion. And... oh... I get it now."

A woman, not quite into her middle age but not young either, threw herself into his arms in a tight hug. She had short dark brown hair, an exotic olive complexion, if a bit light, with faintly elfin features and large brown eyes. River sucked in a shocked breath as the eyes held the same ancient knowledge and wisdom as the man she travelled with. "Susan!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Grandfather!" cried Susan, overjoyed to see him. "Rassilon, I had given up hope of ever seeing you again when the other Time Lords vanished from my mental senses. I am so glad you still live."

River felt the faint jealousy evaporate at the other woman's statement, and she smiled broadly. She was just as happy to see this younger Time Lord as the Doctor was. She was family. Finally Susan and the Doctor pulled back and they noticed River again. "Oh! Blimey... River... this is Susan. My granddaughter. Literally. I don't mean adoptive. My youngest son's daughter from Gallifrey. In fact, she and I left Gallifrey together. Susan, this is River Song..."

It was at this point that he seemed to be at a loss of words. River understood completely. It was one thing to tell others that their relationship was far more than platonic, but it was a whole other thing to tell one's family about it especially if it was family by another woman, presumably his late wife. Awkward. To say the least.

Susan's face broke into a broader smile and she jabbed an elbow into her grandfather's ribs. "Oh please," she said as she rolled her eyes, and then turned to River. "Ignore him for a second, are you dating my grandfather? It's okay if you are. So long as you make each other happy."

River smiled, ignored the blush on the Doctor's face, and nodded. "We are."

"He's so easily embarrassed," laughed Susan, poking him in the arm this time, then she hugged River. "I'm so happy to meet you finally. How long have you two been together?"

There was the sound of him clearing his throat as they turned to face him. "You know, I'm still here."

"On that, why are you here?" she asked. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I think I've had one visit from you since you left me here with David. And I get the feeling that more than a few centuries have passed for you since your last visit. And a few regenerations."

He smiled. "I thought you'd like to come for one last adventure?"

* * * * * * * * *

"Like River, I knew something was up when he showed up on my doorstep for one more adventure. He had locked me out of the TARDIS in the first place to make me grow past him. To mature on my own. And now he wanted me back. River didn't know that detail, and I didn't know about his little 'spell' before I went back to the TARDIS with them." She took a breath, looking at them again, opening her eyes. "But, given my son was an adult with his own life and my husband had passed years before... I went with him. Didn't take long for him to find trouble to keep us running."

* * * * * * * * *

"Run!" yelled the Doctor as he waited for the two of them to start running before he lowered the sonic screwdriver and began to run after them, only sparing the occasional look behind him as whatever it was that chased them kept up with his ageing legs and feet.

* * * * * * * * *

**ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * * *

"My time with the Doctor was as eventful, but I was lucky enough to have met him when he was younger. Relatively," began Sarah Jane Smith as Susan faltered in her tale, and she could see that it was now up to the rest of them to fill in other details. "He looked older."

Susan would tell them of his early years - his beginning on Gallifrey and why, and how, they left Gallifrey and then of his end. But it was for the rest of them to remember the middle. Seeing as no one had stepped forward, she did. And in the typical manner of a reporter, she did so with as much detail as she could remember. Inwardly, she swore she would take all of this back with her and compile them into a journal.

With pictures, if she could find them.

"I met him when I infiltrated UNIT, masquerading as my Aunt... a rather influential virologist... and I was suspicious of him," Sarah Jane smiled. "But I had to be careful - I could tell he was brilliant and extremely clever, if eccentric. To explain, my Doctor was taller than me but not as tall as he would be when I would later meet him again. And, he was only in his third incarnation. He was so young then compared to how he would be when... when I would meet him again with Rose and Mickey. That Doctor, and the sorrow that he thought he hid so well, as well as the age behind those eyes shocked me, even if his face was far younger than I'd ever seen."

Sarah Jane took a breath. "The third incarnation of the Doctor had been forced upon him by the other Time Lords as punishment. You might say they executed his second incarnation and made him into this one. They also had exiled him on Earth, and disabled his TARDIS. But, that was before I met him. By the time I finally did meet him, he was allowed short trips out of the time period he was trapped in as well as off of Earth. In the meantime, and the Brig can back me up on this, he was working for UNIT because he literally had no choice but to work for a living, even if officially he was an unpaid scientific consultant. At that point. I understand he was paid eventually, though."

Sir Alistair nodded in confirmation.

"Anyway, my first adventure was one where I spent the entire time not trusting him, thinking he was the enemy and having the full intent of turning him over to UNIT once we returned to our own time," she smiled at the memory. "...until the very end when he revealed he was helping those in need and was not helping the enemy at all. As I said, he was so clever that it was often difficult to keep up with his train, or multiple trains, of thought..."

"So, what happened?" asked Jackie.

"Well, it involved a Sontoran in the thirteenth century..." laughed Sarah Jane, and then she saw the look of horror on Martha's face. "It was a Sontoran named Linx. He was trying to fix his ship which had crashed on Earth in that century. Long story short, he almost destroyed the time line when he created a robotic knight. After I came to know the Doctor, I never regretted stowing away on the TARDIS. Although, knowing what I do now I often wondered if perhaps he had known I had the entire time... or if I had stowed away at all."

"Did you continue to travel with him?" asked Rose.

"Oh yes. At the point I knew him his exile was ending and he was, well, tired of being on Earth and tied to one particular point. He was all but chomping at the bit to move on and get out among the stars. And so we did, I went with him," Sarah Jane explained. "We travelled until I, stupidly, told him I wanted to go home. I didn't mean it, but even still... well... he never did understand bluffing from companions and would always take things literally. At least he did then, when he was unfamiliar with humanity. After I had seen him regenerate into his fourth incarnation too. I didn't see him again until that incident with the Krilltanes when I met you and Mickey. He had to return to Gallifrey anyway, or so he said, and that aliens weren't allowed on Gallifrey. Define ironic on that one."

"Ooh, that is ironic. Aliens not allowed on 'is home planet but yet we had to nurse maid him to health on ours," chided Jackie. "But, after meeting him I never thought we'd be the aliens. But I suppose we would be, if the tables were turned."

"But you said you'd been on Gallifrey once?" asked Mickey.

"Yes... although I don't remember it clearly. Both Alistair and I have. But not the nicer part of it, let me tell you," answered Sarah Jane. "It was a place called the Death Zone. The Doctor wouldn't speak of it after. And to explain that, an enemy, I think another Time Lord, had 'grabbed' other incarnations out of time itself and threw us into the Death Zone with five different incarnations of himself and his companion... or companions... at the time. Only one was not wholly successfully nabbed and that was the fourth. But the first Doctor, which is when I met Susan here, presumably in your first incarnation as well, the Second, me and the Third, as well as the Fifth and his companions all were."

"I remember that," said Susan. "For some reason, although it paired me with my Grandfather as I remember him, it was not in the same time nor when we were travelling together, and a great deal after I had stopped travelling with him. And yes, that was my first incarnation. I was only two hundred years old, give or take a few years, then. Grandfather had unceremoniously evicted me from the TARDIS when I was one hundred and forty-three. So sixty odd years in my time line and only perhaps a few in his. He didn't say."

"I miss the Third Doctor," mused Sarah Jane with a sniff. "Oh, I know he was the same person at the core and the Fourth definitely had his good points, and I miss him as well. The Tenth was... well... I will admit he was easy on the eyes. By far the easiest on the eyes of them all that I had met. And so young..."

Amy and Rory looked at each other. "Can't have been younger looking than ours, which I think, from what we've learned was perhaps the eleventh," said Amy. "He looked to be in his twenties. Late twenties at the oldest."

"Ah, the Tenth would not have passed for that. Early to mid thirties, maybe," pointed out Martha. "But he had a great smile. And yes, I'll agree with Sarah Jane on the 'easy on the eyes' part. But you seen him. His twin was the recently departed Valeyard."

Amy's brows lifted, and Rory looked a bit uncomfortable. "Really?" asked Amy. "Okay, have to agree on the easy on the eyes part. Sure, I liked how ours looked but that... yeah... I can see his appeal."

"Are we really talking about the same man here?" groused Jo Grant. "Not used to hearing the Doctor referred to as the most eligible bachelor here. My memory of him is the same as Sarah Jane's. Not women's magazine cover material. And that's how I'll always think of..."

Rose took a picture of her wallet and showed it to Jo. "Never mind," whistled Jo, as Liz Shaw looked over her shoulder and her jaw dropped. "Okay, now if the Doctor I met had looked like that I don't think I would have gone back to Cambridge."

Rose then flipped the picture over to a man in a leather jacket. "That was the regeneration previous. My Doctor. The one fresh out of the Time War. Bitter... and broken. Angry."

"The warrior Doctor," mused Jack. "He seemed a bit more pacifist than others, but in comparison to others, he had his moments."

"He blew up Henricks!" exclaimed Rose. "That's how I met him. 'Hello Rose, I'm the Doctor. Run for your life!' while holding a bomb in his hands. So I did. And then Henricks blew up. I thought he was dead until he showed up and my front door the next day."

Susan smiled at the memories. Each of them were in her mind as she was the Doctor and she held those memories now. It was as he would have wanted. Old friends and new gathered together telling each other tales of their time running through space and time. No tears, just a shared joy of having the chance to travel. Laughing over his sillier mistakes, remembering his more brilliant moments.

* * * * * * * * * *

**ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * * * *

They had taken a short break from their memories to lift a glass, pouring a bit of the wine or whatever drink they had brought with them on the ground. Susan recognized the practice as a method of 'sharing' the drink with the dead. The laughter had died down and she recognized and could feel the sadness suddenly sinking into them.

Remembering brought back the reality that he was really, truly, gone forever.

Finally, the moment was broken when Sir Alistair began to talk. "I remember when I first met him. I was only a Colonel then, and it was before UNIT's inception. I was always a bit short with him, and he with me. I think it was mostly because, to be frank, I was expected to believe in aliens and strangeness while fighting for my very life. And then here is another alien that looked so human telling me what to do. It wasn't until later that I discovered it was his second incarnation, just so we're clear. Strange fellow. None so strange as others, mind, and I suspect that was just part of what made the Doctor who he was. Oh, that _was_ a... long time ago for both him and me."

"When did you see him next?" asked Jack, curious now, and even Susan had a small smile on her face.

For one, it was a long time ago even by her grandfather's standards. His second incarnation? He was only a few hundred years old, not even half a millennia. To Gallifreyan equivalencies that only made him the human thirty to forty at that point. Sir Alistair took a breath. "Not for awhile. He was still in the same incarnation that I'd seen him last and we had finally started UNIT. He was... not happy about that I can tell you. He warmed up a bit, but I didn't have many chances to catch up with him. We weren't really friends at that point. It was the first time Benton met the Doctor. A nasty affair with Cybermen... not the same as yours, I assure you, but from elsewhere," he quickly reassured the others from Pete's World as Jackie looked at him in abject horror. "Of course, we managed to defeat them, sent the bastards packing. And then he and his Companions at the time left in the TARDIS."

He took a breath then, and then looked from Sarah Jane Smith and the others from UNIT to the newer Companions. "I would not see that incarnation of him again as the next time we would meet he would be recovering from regenerating and mostly sleeping, although relatively safe in a convalescence hospital in the country where we let him recover from it. As much as we could. Of course, when he'd appear there'd be a disaster or some sort of invasion at that moment. I remembered thinking to myself, 'Does the man not even get a rest himself?' during the whole affair with the Nestenes. He came to long enough to help us out, then told us he'd been exiled from Gallifrey. Thrown out and forced to regenerate. His TARDIS had been disabled, only operational long enough to fling him to Earth where someone might know him, and in the midst of regeneration sickness. That was the extent of the 'kindness' given to him by his very own people. Given that, it's easy to understand why he didn't go home willingly much afterwards."

"They exiled him?" asked Rose in shock.

"The Time Lord equivalent of thrown out on his arse," confirmed Sir Alistair. "When he came to completely, he tried... oh he tried... to get the TARDIS up and running but he had no success. So, I made him an offer. I wouldn't give him a place to live without him working for it, but I assured him the work would be something that not only could he do but something he'd probably like for the time being. So, he became our Scientific Adviser for UNIT. Of course... him just being there made him a magnet for trouble..."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone thought for a long moment, and then Sir Alistair continued. "He was stuck on Earth for four years. Four years of not being able to leave, or even travel in time. At first he was upset and ornery... ask Jo..." There was a snort from Jo as she remembered what he was like. "And then he began to simply get, well, I wouldn't use comfortable."

"More like resigned," added Jo. "He was resigned to the fact that he was going to live out his life on Earth and not among the stars unless we found a way to the stars while he was still alive... and in the position to go along with it. Which, in the seventies and in Britain with no space program to speak of, wasn't likely to happen."

"And then the Master appeared," said Sir Alistair darkly. "And the Time Lords released his exile, not completely, but just enough to tease him."

"Which made him even harder to deal with and live with," pointed out Jo. "He was snippy, but not to the point of being completely rude. It was understandable, but not easy to work with. Eventually I'd had enough and I went back to Cambridge."

Sarah Jane smiled. "That's when I met him and stowed away on the TARDIS -- and we ended up in thirteenth century England. But I've already gone over that. This is still about Sir Alistair's memories of him. I'll leave it at that."

Sir Alistair gave a small exhale of breath that was between a snort and a laugh. "Well, yes... but you also had one of the largest affects on him as well. It was also the first time the TARDIS was working completely as it should, so you were lucky. It was the first time I saw him so back to his usual self like he had been in his second incarnation. I was happy, relieved, to see the weight off his shoulders. And you did much to alleviate the rest. Anyway, as I was saying. Well, I don't have much to say after this. Given that he had his ability to travel again we didn't see each other as much as I would have wanted. During his exile we had become friends. Close friends. The few moments that he wasn't brooding were usually spent with me while fishing or having tea..."

There was an obvious snort of disbelief from Alistair's wife Doris. "By tea you mean port or sherry."

Sir Alistair waved that off and continued. "And when he left I did miss him. Although when he would come back it would be like he hadn't left. Well, not really. He was happier to be out and about instead of tied to one place and it made the visits more pleasant. Even if having him around usually meant the magnet for trouble was just that - trouble was either preceding him with him there to fix it or not too far behind if he'd had no intentions it himself. Such was his nature."

"And then he regenerated into his fourth incarnation," said Mike Yates. "And things were never really the same after. Oh, they were interesting and the fourth was more like the tenth, that would be your Doctor, Martha. Happier, easier to get along with."

"Even worse of a magnet for trouble," pointed out Sarah Jane.

"That too."

"And then the sporadic appearances would only grow more and more sporadic," said Sir Alistair. "Until... we didn't see him again for decades. We assumed, with his life, that he was likely dead. Especially after Sarah Jane told me that she had left the TARDIS behind and never saw him again either. He simply vanished from Earth's radar for... what?"

"Easily thirty years," answered Sarah Jane. "Mid seventies to when I saw him again in 2006, when I also met Rose and Mickey during that dreadful affair with the Krillitanes who took over a school... you remember that?"

Mickey and Rose nodded.

"And that was his tenth incarnation, you say?" asked Sir Alistair. "Six incarnations that we have neither met nor seen. Countless decades or centuries to him. Thirty years to us. The price of knowing a time traveller."

Susan stepped forward. "And now we come to this. When it is not just the fact that he has regenerated, but also that he has passed. The truth of the matter is that he well over eighteen hundred years when Rose first met him in his ninth incarnation, not the nine hundred he claimed. The reality of the matter is that he was around a thousand in his fifth incarnation. He said so, and I remember... considering I do have his memories... saying so to Adric. He wasn't exaggerating. He truly was. The reality was that. Why did he claim he was younger? I don't have an answer. Maybe he wanted to be younger, didn't want to face his real age because it was one thing to be old, but to be the last as well could have been too much for him. Or maybe he felt you couldn't handle knowing how old he truly was and gave a number that would still impress on you that he had centuries on you. He even told one of Sarah Jane's young 'companions' that he had countless regenerations left when that wasn't true either."

"Why?" asked Sarah Jane.

"He didn't want us to worry. In knowing, we'd do that. In not knowing and believing he did have unlimited regenerations or wasn't as old made us believe that he'd be here long after we'd all passed," she answered. "I think he hoped he would be. But, it didn't happen... and that, I can tell you is his one regret."

* * * * * * * * *

**ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * * *

The doors to the TARDIS closed and the Doctor, River Song and Susan leaned on the console and laughed. "I swear grandfather, the older you get the closer you leave it..." she trailed off when he suddenly sat down, breathing heavily.

The two women ran over to his side and he looked up at them and smiled. "I... I didn't think it would come this soon," he said.

"What?" asked Susan, frantic as she opened his jacket, feeling his chest as he coughed. "My God... your left heart stopped... Grandfather, why didn't you say anything?"

He shook his head. "I was expecting it. Well... maybe not this soon but I guess I should have known better... that running... couldn't be good for me."

River knelt down after wrapping him in a blanket. "Maybe we should get him to bed?" she asked. "He can rest and get better. We can take it easy like we were supposed to."

With another shake of his head he looked at them both. "Not this time."

"What do you mean?" asked Susan, suddenly worried at the look she saw in his eyes.

It wasn't fear, nor pain. It was simply acceptance. Like he was ready to let whatever was happening simply happen. "This is my thirteenth, Susan," he looked up at her meaningfully and suddenly Susan felt her hearts freeze.

No.

Not now.

"Can't you regenerate?" asked River. "You have before. I've been there."

He shook his head sadly. "Not this time."

"A Time Lord only gets thirteen incarnations, or twelve regenerations. He's used them all," answered Susan in a low quiet voice. "And I can sense his age. He's not used them, but lived them all."

River shook her head in horror as she realized what she was being told. "Can't you do anything?" she asked, shaking Susan's shoulder. "Medication, surgery... anything?"

The Doctor took River's hand. "River... stop. Nothing can be done. Nor should it. I've lived my life and I've run to the end of it. I'm just out of time." He smiled then. "And I've lived and I've run farther than many of my people could have ever dreamed of doing. And I don't regret a minute of it."

He was quiet as his gaze darkened. "Well, there are moments I do but I also know I couldn't have changed them so there really isn't any point in doing so." He took a breath, closing his eyes as he did so as a wave of pain overtook him and left him gasping. "Susan. Much as I love the TARDIS I didn't exactly envision dying lying on the floor of it. Not sure if..."

River took Susan's place and held the Doctor as Susan, through tears that were threatening to fall began to run around the TARDIS console. She knew she was doing exactly what he had always done. What she had watched him do the first time they left Gallifrey. The last time when she was left behind by him to stay with David Campbell in the twenty second century and raise Alex after she had him.

The great grandson that he had only seen once, and that had been in his eighth incarnation. She had set the coordinates to Earth, but she wasn't sure if she had set them to the year two thousand ten AD or BCE, and she was sure if she cared one way or the other at the moment. Her grandfather was gasping out his last breaths and she didn't want to share him with anyone, not even River even though she was forced to by sheer happenstance.

Moments later the TARDIS landed and Susan threw open the doors as the sun shone through the doors. She turned to see River crying and her grandfather's eyes already closed. If not for the tenuous telepathic presence that told her that her grandfather was still breathing, she would have thought that she was too late. With a bit of a slide on her knees she was at his side again as he weakly opened his eyes and winced into the sun. "Earth?"

"Yeah," she answered with a small smile. "Your favourite."

"Yours... too."

River looked up, still rocking and cradling him. "But... why so early? I can... Britain... but before it was ever called that... why?"

She shook her head. "Look, the air is clear. The grass is green... it's a beautiful day."

She and River helped her grandfather to the doors and then, just outside with him leaning on both them and and the TARDIS he looked around. "It is beautiful."

"Arkytior."

Susan startled at the sound of her name. Her real, Gallifreyan, name. "Yes, Grandfather?" she asked, still in English.

" _Gen hannon. Le hannon a tholel_ ," he smiled. "And to you as well, River."

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world, sweetie," answered River, her tears finally flowing freely. "And thank you. _Gen hannon_. Thank you for letting us come with you."

" _Arkytior... Estannen_..."

" _Baw, Atarinya_..."

" _Tancave_ , Arkytior... I don't want to... be just remembered as the Doctor... I want my name... my real name... to be known. If not now, when?" he asked, switching back to English from Gallifreyan, but this left him too out of breath.

With a small motion he brought them close and finished with a soft whisper. Then, once he had gained enough strength. "River, there will come a time when... you'll have to use that name to make me believe you. Arkytior... remember it and use it. The TARDIS will be yours now," he closed his eyes with a pained gasp. "Not... long... now... _no in elenath hilar nan had gin_."

He didn't breathe in again and ever so slightly they felt him go limp in their arms as the TARDIS moaned in grief. Susan closed his eyes and put her forehead on his, not caring that it brought her closer to River as she did so. " _Na Gallifreya veria le, na elenath din sila erin rad o chuil lin. Mara mesta, Atarinya_."

* * * * * * * *

The circle of people standing in Stonehenge was silent at the finish of Susan's remembrance. She looked around and she saw that, like her, everyone had tears in their eyes. "This is the place where we landed. Where my grandfather died in our arms and passed peacefully to join the others of our race. Where he was no longer the last of the Time Lords but instead I became the last in his place. But even that isn't true. I have Alex, my son, who while half human still carries that legacy in his blood line. After me I have the honour of knowing he will carry on in my name." With a deep, steadying breath she waited a moment before continuing. "This is what Grandfather would have wanted. He was always so attached to this green and blue Earth. Even if Gallifrey still hung in the sky where it always has, he would have rather have been here, with you. And, he still is. Through me. Alex. Your memories and mine, and his legacy. And in this monument, which, while no one else knows its true purpose, they still somehow do. It is a monument that in its very building marks time and its passing. The ancients that used it knew, and so do the modern people. But now you know what it is and who it is for. And in that way he never dies."

There wasn't much to say after that. Some left flowers as they left. Others touched her arm in condolences and then were gone. It was suddenly just those who had been in the car with her when they brought her here.

In silence she rode back.

Sarah Jane touched her arm as she got out of the car. "You are right. He lives on. In you."

Martha and Mickey dropped her off outside of the TARDIS and Martha hugged her. "Don't be a stranger, hey?" she stated. "Come by sometime. You're always welcome."

"What she said, boss," said Mickey.

The Doctor watched as they got in the car and drove off, turning back suddenly in surprise as Jack Harkness came out from behind the corner. "Waiting for me or something?" she asked.

"The former," he answered. "I was thinking... seeing as even your Jake left you to go home and River is in Stormcage Prison... you're alone now, right? Even he knew that wasn't good for himself. Could get into worse trouble than usual like that."

"Are you asking to come with me?"

Jack thought for a moment and was about to answer but they both went still. Looks of shared puzzlement and then Jack laughed it off as he walked across the Plas with her. "For a second I thought I saw one of Ianto's girlfriends," he said. "Not likely. I had to Retcon that one."

The Doctor look at him, a brow raised. "Why?"

"She managed to wander into the Hub. Was bringing him the tea he'd forgotten on the kitchen counter," he answered, remembering that day. "When she didn't find him in the Tourist Center, she found the way downstairs. Never did figure that one out."

"And if it was her?"

"She wouldn't know me anyway," he answered with a shrug. "So, what was the deal? You looked as far off as I did."

"For just one second I could have sworn I felt the presence of another Time Lord," she said as he looked at her in shock. "Not another me."

"A whole other Time Lord?" Jack looked around, not that it would help.

"Just for a second, and it was clear - not long enough for any sense of familiarity - but clear enough to not be an echo. Now all I get are echoes again," she replied mournfully. "But it does tell me one thing."

Jack looked at her, and she looked back, the same feeling of falling into an endless well of power swamped him when he looked into her eyes. It was then he knew also that he wasn't leaving her alone. Torchwood had an abundance of people now and could do without.

"I'm not alone anymore," she finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter;
> 
> 6 - ESPER-IANTO  
> The Doctor crosses time lines when it is discovered that certain aspects of the 456 incident are tampered Fixed Points that only a Time Lord can sort. She discovers a long hidden aspect of her own timeline is more tangled than she ever thought and discovers why the "original" Doctor, her grandfather, was always so anchored to 20th & 21st century Earth. Will she fall to the temptation of breaking another Fixed Point to save someone close to her family?


	6. Esper-Ianto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor crosses time lines when it is discovered that certain aspects of the 456 incident are tampered Fixed Points that only a Time Lord can sort. She discovers a long hidden aspect of her own timeline is more tangled than she ever thought and discovers why the "original" Doctor, her grandfather, was always so anchored to 20th & 21st century Earth. Will she fall to the temptation of breaking another Fixed Point to save someone close to her family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote and posted this to Fanfiction.net, I had accidently wrote in Jo Grant in instead of Liz Shaw. I hope I`ve caught all the corrections, but if you see any `Jo` in this chapter instead of Liz, that`s why.
> 
> And, again, I seem to be having formatting issues. For some reason, to me at least, two full paragraphs are being extracted and thrown to the end of this chapter where they shouldn`t be.

Jack lay sprawled on a lush couch in the main library, which was not part of the console room turned secondary library and study. He had been rather surprised to note that with the appearance of the library console room the main library suddenly had a massive, almost Olympic sized but not quite, swimming pool complete with lap markers and diving boards.

It was old style, with two main floors, a right proper library where the second set of room encircling shelves were on a balcony that could only be reached by stairs placed here and there, like moorings in a sea of... books. It was a sea of books; some were soft-cover, others were so old he dared not touch them. Thankfully the older they were, the higher they sat on the shelves. That balcony was generous, housing not only the shelves set against the walls, but also back to back shelves set perpendicular within their own aisles. Sometimes there was a break for a set of chairs and a small table, always turned to face the pool.

Behind him, in a massive area with more bookshelves, was a reading area complete with two comfortable couches, a divan and another pair of beautiful wing back chairs. A massive fireplace was nearly dwarfed by the flat screen television hanging above it, all technical accoutrement having been artistically set onto the mantle, and encased in the same expensive cherry, or mahogany... or some other alien wood. The accessories had gotten the same treatment, and were hidden under the usual mantelpeice fare, out of sight but reachable, carefully placed with practicality in mind.

 _Only the Doctor_ , he mused as he looked away from the books for a moment, to watch the water lap against the sides of the pool. Idly, he realised it had little lights along the side and microgravity loop vents to keep the water from splashing and staining the wood. The motion calmed his senses, somewhat, and so he once again turned his face up to the ocean of literature that lay all around him.

It was dark in this library. And much like the libraries of old, it was lit by low table lamps. However, these lamps were not true old style versions. Long ago, the Doctor had once revealed that her grandfather had preferred real candles in his library, real candles with real flames which the TARDIS kept easily contained as avoid any fires. She liked candles as well, just not in her library. In here, the only source of fire she allowed was the fireplace and that, too, was maintained by the TARDIS much as her grandfather's candles had been. Yes, this Doctor preferred delicate lamps from the early 1900's on Earth, upgraded with safe wiring and LED lighting. Jack knew this was due to her long sojourn in the twenty-second century. The Modern cunningly hidden by the Classic was huge in that time period. Earth had grown weary of the coldness of too much metal, metal being a tenet of Modern design at the time, and so, Classic or, turn of the century, had seen a revival. As a result, Modern went out of favour, but not completely. For example the fireplace in the Doctor's library, with the wiring hiding in plain sight behind Classical curves of ornate wood, and hardware concealed in delicate dishes, curiosities and vases. The Doctor's alien nature and technological superiority were hidden in plain sight, and yet much like a house with peeling paint, often these would come to the fore in painfully obvious ways.

The dark of the library was warm, instead of oppressive; not to bright for sensitive eyes, not too dim to read comfortably. As usual on this wonderful ship, it was just perfect.

They had drifted for months. Not always in the Vortex either. The Doctor had taken him to places where, for once, they were not plagued by crisis. Oh, some of the stops had been a bit tricky, but at least they hadn't had to run for their lives every time a wrinkle interrupted their travel plan. The Doctor explained that away by saying her grandfather the male Time Lord had been more of a trouble magnet than her; thusly, the ones behind it usually left her alone, her not being... him. Her grandfather's enemies didn't know to look for her yet, didn't know that she was carrying on his legacy. And for some reason, Jack didn't attract the same kind of crowd.

Not that he didn't attract attention, mind; oh no, the complete opposite! Anything else wouldn't have been in his nature.

Finally the Doctor in question appeared, dressed in a modest two piece bathing suit and sarong, with a set of woven cotton-and-bamboo sandals on her feet and a thin dressing gown that fell only to her thighs. The bathing suit was a neutral brown; the rest was white. She honestly looked like she was ready for a Caribbean vacation. Either way it was clear she hadn't come to read. "Good afternoon Jack," she greeted with a smile as she kicked off her sandals at the shallow end of the pool -- the side with stairs, which would allow a graceful entrance -- rather than just jumping in.

Of course, he followed her every move. He knew damn well she felt nothing remotely close to that way about him. And, for once, neither did he for her. It would have been too much like dating the daughter of someone he had a _thing_ for. And, had she been any other person, some things would have been kinky. Other... lines of thought... were just disturbing, even for him. Anything along those lines with her was the latter. But it didn't stop him from looking at the petite and well formed feminine curve of her body, now hidden by very little indeed, as she slid into the clear blue water of the pool with the grace of a water nymph. Jack managed to find his voice and said, clearly, with no sign of his earlier pause, "Good afternoon Doctor."

Okay, it was quickly going from disturbing to kinky and then to... well... distinctly a possible the more he watched out of the corner of his eye. She must have turned heads on Gallifrey, and then again on Earth. Hell she turned his. He was about to, with a grin, strip and join her just to see her reaction when the TARDIS lurched. Water sloshed onto the floor, which was quickly soaked into the grating beneath the floor before it could do any real damage. The Doctor surfaced, then climbed out at the deep end using one of the ladders there, carefully avoiding running around the pool before retrieving the cover-ups; but she left the sandals, exiting the library at a run as she raced to the console room.

Jack found himself hard pressed to keep up with her and he supposed that was because she could run faster without the shoes... well, she could certainly run as fast as he could in heels... At least he was only minutes behind her as he reached the console room as she was already dancing around the console trying to fathom why the TARDIS had suddenly taken a turn in the Vortex.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't know, but we're landing," she answered as they were thrown to the floor.

Getting up, she took a moment to check the monitor before throwing the doors open and looking out into the bright sunshine.

Jack looked out at the same time she did and they looked at each other in confusion. "Cardiff?" he asked. "Normal run of the mill Cardiff...?"

He looked over and noticed she had that same far off look she got in full 'Time Lord' mode. The one that said she wasn't just seeing the world around her but also the time lines around her. Everything a Time Lord could see. She closed her eyes and then opened them. "It is Cardiff. Our world, not a parallel. We are in 2009... the fall of it, if I'm not mistaken."

Jack went still in horror. Oh God no. "We should leave."

She looked at him in puzzlement. "Why?"

"The 456 incident... we should leave. I don't want to deal with this. Not again."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

 

Jack and the Doctor ran around the console. Or, rather, Jack did while the Doctor watched him. "We can take off. Come on, old girl... take off," he coaxed, then noticed the Doctor wasn't moving. "Why aren't you helping me? We're crossing time lines!"

"The minute we opened those doors we became part of these events. The TARDIS knows that as well as I do," she answered. "Whatever is going to happen we have to deal with it until it's done, whatever our part is in it at the time we are now."

Jack didn't move, but looked down at the console once or twice before he dropped his hands and stepped away. Then he looked up, and she could see how haunted he was. "I'm sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear," she said as he walked past her to step outside the doors and lean against the side of the TARDIS.

"It's not," he answered quietly.

She looked around, and for a long moment Jack was aware of the fact that she was seeing something only she, and others like her, could see. He had no idea what she saw or how she saw the world when she looked around like that but he knew that when she did it was unsettling to him. He never remembered the Doctor he had known previously to take such a deliberate and long look around like this. "What do you see?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"A mess," she replied. "This event is a mess of Fixed Points mixed up with ones in Flux."

"What kind?" he asked, and the Doctor looked at him in exasperation. "I mean what is Fixed?"

"It's too tangled up with the ones in Flux to sort out. It shouldn't be this tangled. Oh, time can be tangled - otherwise you could not travel in it - but there are events that should be settled, and places not given to the snarls. But this event, this time, this now and this place... it's all balled up, confused, and torn in places it ought not to be rent," she explained. "I know why the TARDIS brought us here, now. I must sort this mess out. Only one with my senses can without causing even more damage, even more paradox."

Jack scratched the back of his head. She was talking about the single most painful period in his life where he had lost more than he cared to count and... "What events are in Flux, Doctor?"

"Not sure at this point, Jack," she said then her spine stiffened as if someone had caused her to stand up straight. Her eyes were wide in shock. "Oh, I understand now. Someone from our Time Line has entered this one... or from another Time Line... and broken the Fixed Point. That is what I am sensing. Time is trying to repair itself. For some reason though, I do not sense Reapers..."

"And that means what?"

"That a Time Lord did this, or that someone close to one did. Or that something from our world damaged it. An item, perhaps... we had weapons that could do this kind of damage. It may not have caused the event that you remember, but its very presence could cause paradox if it was damaged and bleeding power out of its shielding." She took a breath. "I think that is what could have happened here. I have to find that, either fix it or take it away. The Reapers will not touch our technology. Well, that's not true. They'll touch what they can fix, but anything else, no. Or someone from this time period has caused a paradox by... oh, there is so much that can cause this. When my people were still around in greater numbers we could fix this kind of thing."

* * * * * * * *

The drive was boring. Usually was. He was the first one in as usual. Except for... the man he saw talking to an unfamiliar woman. Ianto Jones brought his car to a stop as he curiously watched Jack Harkness, his lover and friend, and boss at Torchwood, talk to a dark haired woman dressed in a business black pant suit over a dark grey collared shirt. She was a serious looking, but pretty woman, with her hair swept back and cut in a mid length modern cut, long and curly on the top and short and spiky at the back of her head.

He didn't know what they were talking about and he wasn't about to intrude. Jack kept secrets like others kept warm scarves and kept them just as close. Ianto didn't see, or feel, any romantic intentions. Well, Jack was his usual self but she appeared to be either oblivious or chose to blatantly ignore... wait, no... in fact... Jack wasn't flirting. At all.

Ianto blinked at this revelation. Who the hell is she? he wondered. Obviously not a girlfriend. Jack flirted with everyone, even Gwen... and... Owen when he was still alive. If he wasn't flirting it was either someone he didn't like very much, which Ianto could see wasn't the case, or someone possibly related.

* * * * * * * *

Jack and the Doctor missed the car that had stopped, if a bit longer than usual at the stop sign, before it drove away. Jack, because he had his back turned. The Doctor because she didn't see the meaning behind it, nor the driver.

The Doctor took a moment to lock the TARDIS before they left the alley and along the outside perimeter of the Plas. "The CCTV, what we watch, doesn't extend this far. We can observe and find what you're looking for from a cafe, maybe," suggested Jack.

With a bit of a humming noise, she followed Jack into the cafe and sat down with him. He ordered coffee and she ordered tea. "At around this time the first children will go... strange... just stop and... see..."

She turned where he was pointing as a young girl seemed to zone out in the cafe, and her parents panicked. "Iris... Iris!"

"We are coming," she stated evenly before she blinked and came out of it, not even noticing the fact that she had.

"All the children in the world did that," said Jack. "And we had to deal with five days of hell."

"I don't remember this," she said. "Well, I do, but it's like I read about it. I was not... here...?"

"Not that we knew of," answered Jack.

The Doctor's gaze darkened. She knew full well what her grandfather had been up to in the absence. Some of it was his usual, only in other places and other times. Another not. At all. If she strained her senses and the transferred memories she knew he had been on Mars, during an invasion by a creature, or creatures, in the water itself. Where he had turned and almost fell. No. Not almost.

He had.

The memory made her shudder. It was one thing for the Valeyard to fall, but one such as her grandfather to fall would have been truly disastrous. He would have succeeded where the Valeyard overreached, his TARDIS being the more experienced and stronger. The exact same words had also come out of his very lips, said to a woman who should have died but he decided that she would live, breaking a Fixed Point in the process.

She blinked.

Oh no.

She had her answer of what was causing this. Due to something he had accepted from Martha Jones, namely her cell phone, he had tied himself to this era. When he broke that Fixed Point he had caused vibrations, like a rock in a pond, to ripple out and affect this era as well as that one. While it didn't explain 'the cracks in the universe' it did explain this.

Five hours, forty seven minutes and fifty five seconds later, a potential paradox came storming up them while they walked what Jack had thought was far enough from the Plas but was evidently not far enough.

"Jack! What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be in London with Gwen!" exclaimed Ianto Jones as he pulled Jack around to face him.

The Doctor looked Ianto up and down, inhaling as she did so. "Jack..." she began.

"Ianto, I can explain this," he started. "And I am in London. I'm not your Jack. I... ah... came backwards in time by accident. Please don't tell anyone else we're here."

"What the hell do you mean?" demanded Ianto.

"Ianto? Ianto... Mr. Jones... he's telling the truth. We're not supposed to be here."

Ianto looked at the woman he had seen earlier and realized she wasn't from this year. In fact, for some reason she was familiar, now that he was close enough to get a really good look at her, but he couldn't for the life of him put a finger on why. "I'm not leaving either of you alone. As you well know, Jack, you told us never to trust a time traveller we didn't know. Now, while I know you..."

"I'm the Doctor," she stated.

Jack mumbled, "Oh yeah, that's really going to help here, Doc..."

Ianto looked her up and down in surprise, but he backed down. For a moment, Jack was shocked. Ianto was a Canary Wharf Incident survivor. He knew this. "Regeneration?" he asked suddenly.

Both Jack and the Doctor looked at him in shock. "How do you know about that?" asked Jack.

Ianto shrugged. "Tosh hacked UNIT records before she... before she died. We all knew about the Doctor although... didn't know you could flip genders. But, I guess that's life when you deal with aliens, friendlies or not."

"That's a very open-minded view," said the Doctor, blinking, trying to also remember from where she knew him from. Oh yes. Canary Wharf that fateful day Rose Tyler first fell through to Pete's World. "Considering I know you from Canary Wharf and... I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," said Ianto, mildly surprised. "If you had asked me about a year or two ago I would have shot you until you stopped regenerating. But now, well, after seeing those records and the good you've done and having time to think I may not like what happened but I see why it did... and why it wasn't your fault that it did. You did your best to fix it. I'm so sorry about your loss that day. She was... very pretty."

The Doctor coughed uncomfortably and Jack looked just as uncomfortable. "Yes well, I imagine you have things you need to be doing that does not involve being our shadow now that you know who we are."

Ianto nodded. "I do. Take care... and I'm glad you're both here. I have a feeling we're going to need that help."

He left with a final half salute and they watched him. Jack said, "We can't help, can we? Doctor? Are you listening? Hello?"

She had gone back into that far off look that told him she was seeing Time itself again. "He is not being completely honest with us. He knows far more than he lets on. The time lines are converging..." she looked at Jack meaningfully, "... on him. He is the broken Fixed Point."

"What?!" exclaimed Jack.

"Whatever we are here for is about him..." she didn't get a chance to finish.

The ground rumbled beneath their feet as the ground erupted in the Plas. Jack stared in horror at the damage to Torchwood. "My God, it's starting..."

There was nothing left but a gaping wound where Torchwood had been.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * *

 

Jack was almost insane in the need to get to his team to see if, indeed, they had survived as they ought to. The Doctor held him back, one arm gripping his arms as best as one arm could while the other was wrapped across his chest from behind. Bodily she dragged the man to the ground as Jack breathed heavy from the exertion of trying to get away from the much tinier female Doctor.

From a distance they saw Gwen and Ianto climb out and as they were immediately arrested. What was left of the present Jack's body came next. Her Jack, the one from the future, relaxed visibly and then common sense finally returned to him. "My God, we can't be seen..." he breathed.

"Well, that was my point."

She let him go and they both ran to a wall and hid behind it, still observing but out of sight of the major catastrophe that had left a smoking crater where the Hub, and the Plas, used to be. "That will take months to repair..." groaned Jack, then another, unrelated, thought crossed his mind. "How in the name of Hell did you manage to drag me to the ground? Where have you been hiding those muscles, Doctor?"

"Time Lord, not human, remember? We are biologically... different... we need the two hearts for a reason, not just as a pretty addition, otherwise we'd only have one heart like the rest of humanoid life," she answered off-offhandedly. "Although, considering we came first and not humans, one can hardly call it humanoid. Then again... " She trailed off, switching tracks onto the current state of affairs as emergency personnel and UNIT began to sweep in, responding to the emergency. "You can't be part of this. That is Fixed. If you want to help me and not stay in the TARDIS you must listen to me very, very closely and do as I say, do you hear me? This is one of those few circumstances where wandering off and getting into trouble is just not an option."

Jack swallowed. In truth he was a bit shocked by her sudden hardness and clipped, authoritative, tones. The Canadian-ish English mixed accent she wore to mix in with the rest of humanity had slipped away and in its place was one that spoke of her alien nature. He could almost hear the sub tones that human ears couldn't; obviously they were that part of everyday Gallifreyan speech in her accenting. It was pretty, very pretty, far prettier and more alien that he'd ever heard. He'd have to think on that later... was that why the original Doctor's accent had changed, he wondered. Affectation from one regeneration to the next, like the change in clothing, where the real accent was hidden beneath?

This Doctor was still looking at him very seriously, so he brought his thoughts back into focus. He could see why she was even if it hurt to suddenly be demoted by it. He had been a Time Agent once and knew why Time Lines were not tampered with. It was known, to the human Time Agency, as the Butterfly Effect. "Change nothing, touch nothing. Observe Only. Punish transgressions with swift and decisive action for the sake of What Must Happen, even if we don't like what happens, things must fall the way they must," Jack remembered aloud, looking at the Doctor. "The credo of the Time Agency. All right, I agree to your terms and I get why it has to happen this way."

 

"That's good, because I think I need the help anyway. Now, to your memories. What will happen next? We have to stick close to Ianto - the time lines are all on him for a reason... yes, they're on your team as well... but there is something about him in particular and I can't quite put my finger on it."

Jack led her to a nearby cafe that was miraculously still open, though everyone in its' attention was transfixed on the events outside. Even the barista was a bit too distracted to notice that it was Jack ordering his usual and she even got it a bit wrong. The Doctor ordered coffee as well, which Jack was a bit shocked at. "Coffee, Doctor? Really? Didn't think you were the coffee drinking kind."

"This one is," she answered. "Now, explain."

Jack led her to a secluded table that still gave them a view, if obstructed, of the Plas but was far enough away from the throng crowded by the window. "Tomorrow is simply something we'll come to call 'Day Two' of the 456 incident. I don't remember much of it other than reforming, and dying again, while encased in cement. I wouldn't really be involved until Ianto releases me by dropping my 'prison' off a cliff or something, so I can't tell you much, but I can tell you how it ends. People die. People I... would rather have not died."

The Doctor could see the look on his face. There was an emotion there that she knew was a kindred to the one she felt, one of the graces of having her grandfather's memories. Namely, it was the one that constantly reminded them both of the necessity of sometimes having to lose those you loved for the greater good. The Doctor laid a hand on his. "Yeah, I forgot you'd know all about that." Jack took a ragged breath. "Ianto and I had to run into this box... and we both died from a virus. I came back. He didn't."

For a long moment the Doctor considered this. "A virus... Jack... you just gave me the answer."

Jack looked at her in confusion. "That's the broken Fixed Point... the one in Flux... oh... oh... damn..." The Doctor stood up, and Jack followed, not following her thought path, but following her as she left the cafe clearly making for the TARDIS. "Ianto's death isn't a Fixed Point, but, unfortunately, other things are. But we can save one, maybe a few others infected with this virus. If I can extrapolate an anti-virus and administer it to Ianto before he goes into that room with the present Jack, you'll both live. Unfortunately, I can't save your past self with this - it's going to depend on you right now. This you. Having suffered the effects."

"Okay, I'm with you now," said Jack, suddenly understanding. "You intend to use my blood, which has already suffered the effects, to make a vaccine like a flu shot and give it to Ianto... oh that, in the words of your predecessor, Doctor, is absolutely brilliant. But won't that cause a Paradox?"

"Of the predestined kind," she answered as she led them back cautiously, careful to avoid both UNIT and the others that were moving around. "Unfortunately, causing them may be the only way to repair the damage done. It's still going to be a mess but at least the ends will have connections..."

They turned a corner and the Doctor pushed him back as they looked around the corner to where UNIT surrounded the TARDIS. "Damn."

"Now I get it," he said. "When Gwen asked why you didn't help us, UNIT said you were here. But when I asked the Doctor then... he said he hadn't been and was very, very confused. He assumed it was a future him and didn't think twice about it. But, it was you. Us."

"Yeah, it had indeed confused me," she answered with a short laugh.

"I keep forgetting you're him now," murmured Jack, then he had to ask. "Why didn't you?"

"Eh?"

"Why weren't you here?"

"I already was here, Jack. This me. I didn't know it at the time. The TARDIS would have automatically detected that and avoided the time line on purpose unless I knew, specifically, and forced her to do it anyway... or if something happened to pull the both of us here at the same time," she answered. "It's a natural defence built into every TARDIS. 'Avoid yourself'. Like two like poles of a magnet repelling each other. Another Paradox of the pre-destined kind."

"About that..."

"A Pre-destined Paradox is a Paradox that must happen or the events that are Fixed will not happen. In essence, the Paradox is what holds together the time line, or track, to keep it from unravelling like a ball of wool in the grip of an energetic kitten. Unlike any other kind of Paradox which is a 'Do NOT allow to happen under any circumstances' kind," she explained. "Pre-Destined Paradoxes are used by Time Lords to repair a time track, or fix damage to the time line, because there's no other way to repair it so that Time flows, to the non-Time sensitive, as it should. When my people were everywhere and every-when we did this all the time in many different realities and held them all together. Now... well... there are so few of us left now. But at least I know I am not the only one even if I can't find the others so few and so scattered we have become... I may as be the Last for all the potential I have of contacting them. Realities are closing off and some are ending because we are not there to maintain them."

Jack was silent for a long time as the gravity of her statement hit him. "And I wondered why I could tell the Doctor's cheerfulness was normally forced. That sucks, to put it shortly. To throw that much responsibility on one person's shoulders, or even so few. Some days I'm glad I'm not a Time Lord... today would be one of those..."

"That's why I helped form the Time Agency, when I felt the contact with my people fade, as Susan Campbell in the 22nd second millennium. I knew we'd have to eventually face passing the torch, and hoping that humanity and other lifeforms could handle it, or at least help out and help lift some of the burden from our shoulders," she mused.

"You!?" he exclaimed, then he whispered, aware of how close he had come to attracting UNIT's attention. "That's a subject I'll bring up later... how are we going to get to the TARDIS?"

She shook her head, leading him back to the water front and away from the activity and the TARDIS. "We aren't. Using the TARDIS is out until this is over. I remember being asked why I never showed up to reclaim the TARDIS. It was because I knew I couldn't. The Doctor, the original, had contact with UNIT after. If I had shown my face, they would have had record of it and he would have known too soon that he would eventually die and that he wasn't the Last at all. Much of what would come later in his life is due to him thinking, truly believing, that he was the Last of the Time Lords. That is a Fixed Point I cannot break."

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * * *

On what Jack had nicknamed "Day Three" she and him did nothing but search for a likely place that she could manufacture her "anti-virus" to whatever it was that would kill him, Ianto and countless others. "The worst thing is that once I discover this, then their threats become idle," she pointed out. "But it won't stop them this time. I know I'll be too late and even in knowing that I have to try."

Jack smiled thinly as he pulled into a little used house. It wasn't listed on any of Torchwood's records, nor any of anyone who worked for Torchwood period. If anyone held the deed it was likely UNIT itself. She never even noticed as she all but barged in, not even noticing that she knew just where to go, and where each plug in was, even if the house had been renovated and updated. Jack still smiled, but it was plagued by the knowledge of what was to come.

Finally she took notice. "Wait a minute... I know this place... it's been years since I've been here though. This is... this is my house! I lived here in the seventies when I was exiled from... but how, Jack?"

"I figured we could hide right under their nose. It worked for the team here," he answered quietly. "They'll be heading to a Torchwood One warehouse not far from where Canary Wharf, and Torchwood One, stood. And no one will be the wiser."

"Risky move," she stated. "We both know they will not be found, but even I can't guess at our personal future. We haven't seen it."

She waggled her index finger as if to drive home the point. She then removed the outer calf length black sweater jacket she wore over her black pants and the second, short-sleeved, black sweater which in turn was over a crisp white and likely sleeveless fine linen blouse. Everything was, as usual, cut to her frame. She did not remove her high heeled black leather boots, however, and the heels clicked authoritatively over the hard wood flooring as she led them down the stairs where another key from the same key chain as the TARDIS key rested on opened another door.

The Doctor flicked on a light and strode into the dated, but still functional, lab. Everything was as she remembered it. Unlike the rest of the house UNIT had left this one room as the Doctor who had last lived here had left it. She smiled sadly then. The third Doctor's lab. The one where he and Jo Grant had spent hours, days... years?... working here while he was forced to live out his years of exile from Gallifrey.

"Right then, now we get to work..."

She motioned for Jack to sit in the chair as she made a tourniquet on his upper arm, swabbed him and then deftly - before he had a chance to really argue - took three blood samples. Once that was done, her steady hands switching vials effortlessly as they filled. Once she had removed the tourniquet, she bandaged him up and then, from a pocket where he knew she couldn't have space to store such an item, drew out a banana and a packaged cookie and gave both to him. "Not much in the way of comfort, I know, but better than nothing," she said simply as she took the three vials and labelled them.

Jack held the cotton ball to the inside of his left arm. "A little warning would be appreciated Doc."

"I told you I would need it, and stop calling me Doc."

He watched her as she moved from one place to the next, using each vial in turn for different tests. This took most of the morning, especially considering their earlier than dawn start. When Jack checked his Vortex Manipulator for the current time -- for what seemed like a the hundredth time -- he was shocked to note that it was now one in the afternoon. "All right, I'm calling this for now," he said. "We both need to eat and, while we're in London and not Cardiff, I still can't afford to be seen by anyone. No one knows you... so, I'll give you some cash and you need to find the food."

For a moment she seemed about to argue, but didn't get the chance as they both heard the footsteps on the stair. Jack stood, drawing his gun as the Doctor moved to the other side of the door.

A woman walked in, clearly puzzled. Jack saw the Doctor relax and put away his gun. "Don't blame me if this causes a complication," he told the Doctor.

"It won't," she answered as she opened her arms wide. "How wonderful! Elizabeth Shaw! Or is it Dr. Shaw now?"

Elizabeth Shaw looked at her in shock. "Who in the bloody hell are you?"

"Uh, you really should have taken in the changes..."

"Wait, you're that man everyone is looking for!" Liz backed into the Doctor, then looked at her in horror. "Who are you?"

"Liz, calm down and think... who else has the key to this room, since it's obviously not been broken into and then think about who would know you by name... then combine the two and narrow it down by those two items and come to the logical conclusion. When you've done that, I could use your help here," answered the Doctor, vague annoyance colouring her tone... then she realized that she had unconsciously used the same tone she always had used with Liz.

It had the intended, and unintended, effect. Liz calmed down immediately, but now she was shocked into complete and utter silence. When she found her voice she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I should have known you'd have something to do with this."

"Yes, well... now that it's cleared up... oh, I have a wonderful idea... send Liz for lunch. Solves both problems. You being seen and me being pulled away from something important."

"You never change," she chided, then sighed. "Oh bloody hell. The least you could do is say hi to Sarah Jane before you leave. Or the Brig."

"Can't do that," quipped back the Doctor. "I'm not the right one. Well, I am and I am not. Well... it's complicated. He's not the same one they're looking for, if anything he's from a time stream sometime in the future and so am I. On that, Jo, tell no one we're here. It would be like a future you being found here by Sarah and then telling the Brig you were here and him asking the present you why you didn't say hi while you were here when you finally came back."

"Okay... I think I get it," Liz answered slowly. "Wait a minute... you mean the incarnation of you that Sarah Jane should know now, the one everyone is out of their minds looking for, is a past you?"

"Now she gets it!" exclaimed the Doctor as Jack slapped his hand to his face.

"She's got a lot on her mind... she's not usually this rude or short with people," he explained.

Liz snorted. "Really? And I was just thinking about how little things change."

"Liz... you're still here and Jack is still hungry... and now that I think of it so am I. Oh, and don't forget tea. The world was saved because of tea a few times, I'm sure you didn't know that. Anyway, don't forget it!" finished the Doctor as she turned her attention back to the microscope.

With a roll of her eyes Liz left and then fifteen minutes later she returned with two large paper bags of groceries. "I figured you might be here for as long as whatever this is lasts, so I came prepared. But, for now, here."

She handed Jack a wrapped up burger with chips and put the same on the Doctor's desk. "Doctor?" she asked tentatively. "I've brought you food...although if you're anything like what I remember you probably won't eat it anyway. So I brought you a thermos of tea. You live on it anyway."

"Hmm? Oh, thank you Ms. Shaw."

"It's Dr. Shaw now," corrected Liz, the annoyance clear in her tone although she had a smile on her face as she corrected her. "So... you're a woman now. Interesting side effect of regeneration, that."

Jack nearly choked on his burger. He might have known that would come up sooner or later. The Doctor looked up from the microscope, the tools stopped mid motion as she froze and then looked over at Liz. "What?!"

"Not that you've changed much. As usual, outside changes but the same old, same old... still the Doctor I remember now that I've gotten over the initial 'Oh my God who is this strange woman and how the bloody hell did she get in here?' So, what the hell is going on?" asked Liz.

"Not entirely sure. But something wants to steal our children and its literally holding every life on the planet hostage. We don't know why and to what purpose they want them," answered the Doctor. "I'm doing the best I can... but..."

Liz caught the edge of the regret. "You don't think you can do it, can you?"

"Not on the scale of this size with the time I have," she answered.

"Why is it you and not this time's Doctor?"

"You know why."

"Because you're here, and you were here first. His TARDIS won't let him cross his time line so he's locked out of it."

"I always knew you were brilliant."

"Oh please... all I ever did was pass you test tubes."

"And not the easiest task when I never labelled and you were dealing with the strange and alien to you," reassured the Doctor. "Rest assured, if I felt just anyone could do it they would have done. But not just anyone could."

Liz blinked. She had, admittedly, never thought of it that way. When she finally left him she had all but sharply told him where to stick said test tubes and told him that she had felt under-appreciated and under utilized for someone of her education and worth. And then she had quit UNIT and gone back to university. She had been bitter and angry at being made to feel second best by Sir Alistair, and had also said so, to anyone who had asked.

But yet she always came back to check on this house when he had finally been able to leave.

"You know, this stuff is all antiques now," she stated. "I could bring you something more up to date."

"That'd be brilliant!" the Doctor smiled and it lit up her face.

"Yes, but perhaps now you'd like to eat?" asked Liz.

The Doctor walked over to the desk, shucked off the lab gloves and threw them in a bin, then washed her hands before wandering back to the desk to sit down and eat at the desk. Jo smiled and said, "Great, I'll call my assistant... what should I call you?"

"Dr. Susan Foreman-Campbell," suggested Jack.

"That works. Very normal, but not so normal as to attract attention," agreed Liz, then she turned to Jack. "You have to make yourself scarce. You're a wanted man."

Jack found another part of the basement and went there. "I'm just going to get some sleep," he said from a distance. "While I can."

"Good idea," said the Doctor.

* * * * * * * *

Not an hour later, which put the time at three in the afternoon, Liz's assistant plus a few students had helped move some of the more portable equipment into the basement. "Are you sure this is all you'll need?" asked Jo. "You could always do the work at my lab. I'd have no problem in lending the space to you.

"It's fine," said the Doctor, and once her assistant and the students were gone. "What won't I can sonic into working. Now, speaking of which, we have until the end of tomorrow to get this done."

Hours later, and Liz felt like her eyes were about to fall out of her head. "Liz, go get some sleep. It's nearly midnight."

"What about you?"

"Time Lord, remember?"

* * * * * * * *

Jack woke up the next morning, checked his vortex manipulator and was surprised to see that it was almost six am. When he wandered back into the lab area he was not surprised to see the Doctor at a laptop computer, still working away. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"I managed to get all the data I needed from your blood at around eleven last night," she answered. "Now all I need to do is re-sequence this string to act as a vaccine, run a few tests to check it, and then formulate the serum. Unfortunately, I will only have enough serum for three or four people, five tops."

"When will you have that?"

"At around one this afternoon," she answered as she took a sip of the coffee he gave her.

Jack felt relief so palpable he had to sit down. "Ianto gets one," he decided.

"As does Gwen, Rhys, and me. I'm sorry Jack," she saw the look on his face. "I can't make more and you're technically already immune."

He smiled. "I don't care. You saved more than I expected you to be able to."

"Let's not get too excited. It's not in my hands yet."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * *

Jack looked at the case in the Doctor's hand. The hard case held the four dosages of completed serum that she had been able to manufacture. Foam held it all so it couldn't break on the inside while the outside was a fire proof and bullet proof briefcase that Jack had handcuffed to her wrist. When she asked, he had answered, "Now that we have hope, I'll be damned if I let it slip out of our hands."

Liz held the fifth and final vial. She would take it to Sir Alistair at UNIT and say simply in answer, "Code Nine," when asked how and why she had it. "You remember what else I told you?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes, you have done all you can and all you were able to, and only hope it is enough," she answered clearly. "You've done more than you think."

The Doctor nodded. "For the future, maybe, but I fear not enough for today and tomorrow immediately." She looked at Jack. "Except for a few. Too few. But better than no one."

Jack looked at her and nodded. "Let's do this."

"All right, where did this all happen?" asked the Doctor and then saw the beam of light in the sky. "Oh. Right. Never mind. I assume there?"

Jack nodded and they heard the laughter from LIz. "Take my car," said Liz as she threw the Doctor the keys. "I trust you still remember how to drive?"

"Yes, of course I do!" she exclaimed with a bit of a scowl. "Dr. Shaw, if we don't see each other again... well... you were brilliant."

With that Jack and the Doctor left her on the doorstep.

* * * * * * * *

Jack and the Doctor, with the aid of the psychic paper, were allowed into the building where the beam of light from the sky was. A blast was felt, and for a moment, they lost their footing. Jack gained it quicker, almost desperate in his need to get them there.

They came around the corner, and the Doctor saw Ianto. He was about to open the door when she used her sonic to close it in his and Gwen's face, effectively locking them away from their Jack. Ianto turned to them and when he saw them, he exclaimed, "You!"

Gwen turned and looked, then looked at the door where the other Jack had gone. "How the hell?!"

Jack grinned, and Ianto answered, "She's the Doctor, Gwen.... she came... like Jack said she would... but... oh, this again."

"But how are there two Jack's?" asked Gwen. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, Doctor. In fact, about bloody time!"

"Sorry I'm late. Got caught up making this," she held up the case, then opened it.

"Time traveller," explained Ianto. "That's not our Jack, he's a future Jack... I don't how far though."

Gwen looked from one to the other as the Doctor prepared one hypodermic. "Okay, Ianto, you first. Then you can go after Jack."

"What?!" exclaimed her Jack. "Oh no."

She glared at him. "He'll be fine. All tests indicate it acts fast. As in immediately fast."

"But you don't know that."

"Trust me Jack!"

Jack fell silent, and Gwen watched the two of them closely. She could see that they knew each other. There was an ease that spoke of years, perhaps. Maybe longer. She knew Jack was immortal and that, according to the records Tosh had hacked from UNIT, the Doctor was also extremely long lived. Perhaps they had known each other for centuries... she shook off that thought.

Ianto let the Doctor inject him in the back of the neck. He felt woozy for a moment, but then it passed. "Was that normal?" he asked.

"Well, it definitely means it's in your system," she answered. "The little spell you had there was unexpected. Okay, Gwen, your turn."

She hesitated. "Gwen," Jack came to her and whispered. "I trust her with my life. I know how hollow that sounds from me, but listen... before... when I was normal like you I trusted the Doctor with my life. I still do. She has never let me down in regards to helping friends or saving the planet. It's what she does."

Gwen finally nodded and let the Doctor inject her as well. "My turn."

The Doctor injected herself and had to grab the table to steady herself. "Well, that is a bit of a head rush," she laughed nervously. "Ooh, it does go to work fast. Well, good... the fourth one is for Rhys. He's not here. Okay then..." She closed the case. "... Gwen, you have to give this to him later, or to someone. Or keep it at Torchwood. Better yet, pass it on to Martha."

Gwen laughed and looked at Jack. "She's as strange as I thought she'd be."

The Doctor opened the door and Ianto went in. Gwen shifted her gun from one hand to the other. The Doctor nodded to Jack. "Time to go, Jack."

"What? But you can't!" came Gwen's voice from behind her.

"Time traveller, Gwen. If you read those files you know about the TARDIS," said Jack. "I'm not your Jack. The 456 incident I remember will be only slightly worse than what this one will be. And it has to be. Remember the movie Butterfly Effect... and yes, the Doctor knows what she is doing. She came to repair the damage... but there is still other issues of the time stream to fix or it all unravels."

Gwen turned gravely silent and then nodded. "Okay, I think I understand. Go on. Wait, but what about what you did here?"

"One small fire put out but there are others still," answered the Doctor. "And that is all I can say. I was never here - I wasn't supposed to be. Remember that."

Gwen nodded. The Doctor led Jack out of the compound and, using Liz's car again they returned to the house by a less than direct route. She left the car a few blocks away and they were forced, again by a less than direct route, to take public transportation until they were sure that no one could have followed them, or if they had they gave up in frustration.

Finally they sat on the front step of the Doctor's own house on Earth. The sun was setting and then the beam in the sky vanished. It was as if the world hushed. Jack frowned. "It's over."

The Doctor nodded.

"And Ianto?"

"While, as a time traveller, you will remember him being dead you should also start to have overlapping memories of him being alive. Probably soon. Eventually his death will be a bad dream and the "fix" we did will be be the permanent Fixed Point, and predestined Paradox, that makes the Fixed Point as it properly should," the Doctor sighed. "I'll have to find out what caused the unravelling of the Time Stream. See if I can fix it. And then what I had to do to fix it, except for the Predestined Paradox, will fade until only I can remember it. Time Lord. Remember?"

"I think I don't want to be your kind anymore," he said.

The Doctor laughed, even if it was a sad one. "I don't blame you." She stood up. "However, we still have one thing to fix."

"What's that?"

"He's still not supposed to be here. I can see that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Jack, shocked.

"You will remember in the morning. Now, go rest. Tomorrow's a big day once we get the TARDIS back.

* * * * * * * *

Jack woke up as the sun streamed in the window. For a long moment he had to think about where he was but then he remembered. The Doctor's house. In London. Go figure. He never expected to find that out let alone stay a few days in it. He got up, refreshed himself and then got dressed, making his way downstairs to where the Doctor was already drinking a cup of coffee. "Don't you ever sleep?" he groused as he poured himself a cup.

Moments later the cup shattered on the floor, the coffee everywhere on the floor as he remembered, realized, he was sure what it was. He turned to the Doctor. "You sly bastard, that's what you meant last night. I... remember the original memory... and then I remember him living, sick... but he survived... then a few days later he disappeared. Missing from my life like the original but alive..." Jack grasper shoulders. "You're going to take him with us. From this time you're going to grab him. Steal him... I don't know whether to shake you or kiss you."

She grinned. "I take it you want him to come along then?"

"You have no idea!" he shouted, then settled for kissing her.

The kiss was full on the lips like he had done on the Game Station to the Ninth Doctor, only neither of them pulled back. Her hands were on his forearms as he grasped her upper arms, drawing the Time Lord from her seat before moving on hand from her arm to the back of her neck to draw her in. His lips were pressed against hers, but he didn't mash them up like an amateur. He pressed them like soft caresses as her eyes closed from being wide eyed in shock.

He took that as an invitation and teased her mouth open with his tongue before exploring further, getting the feel for her. At first, she didn't respond. At all. And then, as if someone had flicked a switch or broken a dam, she was responding in kind. His other arm reached down and lifted her bottom up to match his height, lifting her clear off the ground a few inches before twirling the both of them around and settling her on the table.

It was at this point she drew back. "Jack."

He drew back, breathing heavy, touching the space above and between her breasts, feeling the beats of her twin hearts. His one heart pounded heavily and he looked into those eyes of hers, could see the ancient being behind them. But also the lonely one. "You... I'm sorry, I should have asked..." he said breathlessly.

"What about Ianto?" asked the Doctor.

"He had a girlfriend while he had me," smirked Jack, then he grew serious. "All right, I see your point."

The moment, or whatever it was seemed to evaporate as she drew that quiet, distant, dignity back around her. But for one shining moment he'd finally cracked it. Finally seen the Doctor and seen how mortal, how normal, she really was.

And he respected her more for it. Obviously the Doctor was subject to all the same issues as humanity. The same hang ups. The same capacity and need for love.

But sacrificed her own happiness for others and drew that cloak of dignity around her like armour because she had to because who else would?

* * * * * * * *

Ianto still didn't feel one hundred percent, but at least he wasn't stuck in the hospital. He preferred to be at home. Mind you, it wasn't the same without Jack who constantly blamed himself, a strangely distant Gwen since the 456 incident... or without the air of loneliness that had descended when first Lisa had died and then when Autumn had left.

A noise filled the street, and he shuffled to look outside.

He knew that box.

That same damned box had shown up when Canary Wharf had fallen. Yvonne Hartman, his boss at the time, had been obsessed with it. And the man within. He closed his eyes and cursed. Of course. He'd been called the Doctor as well.

He just hadn't put two and two together that the man had been a Time Lord. Then again, he hadn't exactly known what one was then.

Autumn, for as short as he'd known her - relatively, as he had travelled with her in her TARDIS for a few months before she returned him no later than a week than when he had left... just in time to come back from vacation without anyone knowing the wiser. And then Jack retconned her. Failed miserably, mind, but Jack didn't need to know that. And now the hypocrite travelled with another one!

Well, to be fair, had Jack known she was a Time Lord he'd likely not have retconned her in the first place. It was a fair bet that he would have known that retcon and Time Lords didn't go well together. Oh, like... at all. Sure, she fell asleep like Gwen did. She woke up vaguely confused. For a moment Ianto had almost thought it worked until he got the tongue lashing to end all tongue lashings from her for daring to even attempt to tamper with a Time Lord's memories. Evidently that was very sacrosanct in their culture.

Right, had to remember that one.

So, if Jack knew a Time Lord... well... had he known...

Finally he and Doctor came to Ianto's door and he opened it. "I heard her materialize," he answered when she opened her mouth.

"Right," she said, surprised. "About that."

"Come in," he invited and both she and Jack followed him into his living room.

"How do you know so much about Time Lords?" asked the Doctor.

"I had this girlfriend. Thought she was human... then Jack retconned her and she gave me hell for it the next morning. Ended up she was one of your kind," he answered simply and Jack's eyes bugged out.

"What?!" they both exclaimed in surprise.

"Her name was Autumn," answered Ianto. "And in answer to your quest, yes, she used that both on Earth and where ever she came from... she called it Gallifrey."

The Doctor sank onto a chair. Jack had never seen her go that white with shock. Even when the Master had come back the Doctor had not appeared so close to fainting. "That's not possible. I remember... I remember seeing her beside Rassilon when I forced them back into the Time Lock. Oh Ianto... I'm so very sorry, but she died in the Last Great Time War. For some reason, she came here, to this time period, but she is from my personal past. My distant past," explained the Doctor.

"You're jumping around, Doc," said Jack gently. "Who is Autumn?"

"She's the Doctor's mother - and my great-grandmother. The one my grandfather borrowed his TARDIS from. In fact, you could say she's the original owner. Before me, before him," she answered. "Oh... it all makes sense now. This has been been coming forever..."

She looked at Ianto. "The TARDIS brought us here now. And when my grandfather and I first came to Earth it wasn't far from here, this very same spot, and within the same time frame. The TARDIS was bringing us back here to... to find you... but we weren't the same pilot. We didn't know why. But it all links back to you. That's why the Time Lines all converged on you. They simply do. First Autumn, although... it was him first, wasn't it... at Canary Wharf? The TARDIS saw you there, and recognized you. I bet you've wondered to this day how and why the Cybermen missed you when they were all around you..."

"I did, actually," mused Ianto sadly.

"The TARDIS protected you," answered the Doctor.. "And then, after that, you met Autumn. It was the first time ever that the TARDIS had been on Earth. I remember her telling us that the TARDIS had needed emergency repairs. You and she dated, didn't you?"

"And then Jack retconned her. Which, by the way, it didn't work. She remembered everything," answered Ianto. "I took vacation time, and, in the span of what was a week to everyone else here, well, I guess you know what time is like on the TARDIS."

Jack shook his head, still a bit shell shocked that the same woman... although now that he looked he could see the relation... was a Time Lord. "And then everything would come to happen. And now it came to this. The TARDIS came to protect you. She brought me instead of him because, well, it's better she did. And now I know what she wants, needs, me to do."

The Doctor grew serious. "Ianto Jones, would you like to come with us in the TARDIS?"

Ianto grinned. "Of course I would." 

 

 _Only the Doctor_ , he mused as he looked away from the books for a moment, to watch the water lap against the sides of the pool. Idly, he realised it had little lights along the side and microgravity loop vents to keep the water from splashing and staining the wood. The motion calmed his senses, somewhat, and so he once again turned his face up to the ocean of literature that lay all around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a deleted scene for this chapter that I will post... eventually.
> 
> In the next chapter;
> 
> 7 - BREAKDOWN  
> The TARDIS breaks down and the Doctor and her Companions are dumped outside the unstable TARDIS to allow it to repair itself. Can they survive the dangers of the harsh desert planet without the shelter and the escape route the TARDIS provides?


	7. Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TARDIS breaks down and the Doctor and her Companions are dumped outside the unstable TARDIS to allow it to repair itself. Can they survive the dangers of the volcanic desert planet without the shelter and the escape route the TARDIS provides?

Time on the TARDIS progressed differently than it did on Earth.

For one, it appeared to pass normally to everyone aboard, and yet, nothing seemed changed until a body stepped outside the double doors.  And, everyone of the bodies that spent enough time inside the TARDIS tended to count their days by that unique rhythm, eventually adopting - to a reasonable extent - een that special way of ticking down the moments which came naturally to the ship's only remaining pilot, that is, the median light and dark cycle of the Gallifreyan day.

The Doctor wasn't sure why she in particular still clung to her destroyed home world's method of chronological measurement.  She merely supposed it due to the melancholy she'd dropped into once Ianto had joined them, his being, perhaps, an abstract reminder of much had been lost when Gallifrey burned.

Besides, days on home world were... had been longer than the days on Earth.  Much longer.

Ianto was the first to notice, because he started yawning and looking at his watch.  Jack was next, counting gours until he was far past the familiar twenty-four.

Finally he asked.

"Doctor, I noticed the days are longer... as in, nearly eight hours over a normal terrestrial day longer; and then, the short, almost quickened dark period... it must be... the night of some other planetary system, I'm guessing?" he began.  "Why is it so atypical to Earth-standard?"

"Atypical to humans, perhaps; however, this chronological system is utilized frequently outside of Solian space..."

He wasn't slow, and neither was Ianto.  Within minutes of recieving that tiny hint that they had figured it out and come back later.  Jack asked quietly, "The thirty two or so hours... that's the length of day on Gallifrey, isn't it?"

"Was, Jack, was... but yes, you're correct.  Thirty-one and two-thirds earth hours.  We separated our days into a... well...  a rather distinct system of time keeping, given our heritage.  But yes, our days were almost thirty-two hours long."

"And then you'd have this really short sleep period?" asked Jack, and thought it was his question, he was taken aback at her nod.  "Damn, no wonder it seemed like you never slept compared to us.  But, wouldn't you sleep longer, you balance out the extra hours spent awake?"

"As a rule, no," she answered, blinking in surprise at the turn of conversation.  "We sleep... sometimes... but as a rule we don't.  Only the very young and the very old sleep at night, and every night.  The adult Gallifreyan would only need four hours of a meditative, but still mostly wakeful, state we called Reverie each night.  It would serve like eight hours every twenty-four to a human."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other.  "We must seem like we sleep our lives away to you," said Ianto.

She smiled.  "To us, yes... you do."

* * * * * * *

  
But that conversation had been weeks ago and now Jack was watching the Doctor as she ran around the console.  He sat in her chair with his feet up.  He was tired, sure but then he'd been catching up with Ianto last night. While it had only been a very few days for the strong, capable Welshman, it had literally been years for Jack.  Ianto had listened to him as he'd related events in the years since they'd... drifted and heard clearly Jack's feelings on the matter.  And then Ianto had held him.

Jack had never slept better, nor as little, in his life.

At first, he'd assumed that the Doctor would be upset by the sudden distance between her and her new Companions.  But she had given no indication.  Instead, when he sought her out, Jack noted that she herself seemed distant, mostly when she entered into the maze of corridors deep within the ship, she proved herself nearly impossible to find.  He was concerned.

Finally though, he had cornered her in a secondary control room as she was piloting the TARDIS someplace.  Like her grandfather, she seemed to be determined to ignore what ever problem she felt there could be between them.  He knew what it was; the kiss in the house, and where it had almost led.  And once she had time to think about it, she responded the same way as her grandfather had done with Rose and Martha.  It was a point of idle wonder for Jack whether or not the particular trait of running from love was present in every Time Lord, or just the Doctor's end of the gene pool.

He was about to ask, but Ianto chose that moment to come in with tea.  "I thought this might be appreciated," he started, as he caught the tension in the air.

Ianto wasn't stupid.  He had been aware of this tension since he came aboard.  His first sighting of them had convinced him that there was nothing between them.  Between then and now something had clearly changed.  He set the tray down on the table beside Jack and touched his arm.  

Jack smiled, but then looked over at the Doctor in concern.  Then, with a sigh, he stood up.

"Doctor, there's tea here..."

He didn't get the chance to finish.

The lights went out and the console exploded, sending the Doctor flying across the console room to hit the far wall before crumpling onto the floor.  Jack ran over to the console and tried to salvage the flight plan.  "What's happening?" shouted Ianto over the horrendous screeching of the time rotor.

"I don't know!" Jack shouted back.  "Brace yourself.  I don't think I'll be able to make this landing any easier.  She's bleeding power.  It's all I can do to take her out of the Time Vortex and land her someplace reasonable.  Come on sweetheart.  Don't kill us."

There was a scraping moan but the time rotor managed to make a few weak pulses more and Jack felt the telltale dropped feeling as they fell out of the Vortex.  He took a breath and saw Ianto in the dim pulsing emergency lighting as he held on for dear life.  It was eerily quiet, and then he felt the sensation of falling again as the ship creaked.  "Jack... this feels like we're falling...!"

Jack had been in enough crashes to know that that was what exactly was happening.  Instead of materializing on the ground, the TARDIS had materialized close to the ground, but also far above it.  In the atmosphere probably, hopefully, but still above it enough that when she crashed it was going to cause some damage.  He tried to correct, and the rotor gave one, single solitary motion, slowing them somewhat, but the landing was still rough enough to cause them to bounce and hit the ground again.

Everything went dark.

The doors hung loosely, opening and closing as if blown open by an errant breeze.  Nothing moved within and the only light that filtered in was from the thin slit allowed by the doors.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

  
The world was blurry and didn't seem to make sense.  It wasn't her bedroom, and the lighting was all wrong.  It was too dark and the one source of light was too bright and seemed to be intermittent.  And it was hard and uncomfortable, and when she moved she could feel heavy objects shift from on top of her.  She was both cold and hot, which again made no sense.  She swallowed and tried to fit in the kaleidoscope of sensory input back into her brain where it belonged.

The Doctor - The Doctor?  Yes, that was who she was... - blinked and pushed herself up from the floor.  Ah.  A floor.  She'd been sleeping on the floor?  Wait, no, that wasn't right.  She blinked again, but her vision still swam with alarming holes and jumbles of nondescript blur.  She could, however, make out that she was on the farthest side of the console room, on the floor, yes, and she was covered in books from the bookshelf.  She looked.  The now broken bookshelf.

She tried to stand up and everything spun.  So she satisfied herself with staying where she was until the console room seemed to stop spinning as she took stock of her condition.  Head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and seed pulp; rather more of a spilt pumpkin than a head, if the ache was any indication.  Concentration was impaired, as was thinking speed.  She didn't know how long she was unconscious, which was another problem, but she still also still felt like she needed sleep.  Lots of it.

Head injury then.  Serious one.  And head injuries on a Time Lord were bad.  Worse than with a human.  It wasn't an exaggeration to say there was more going on upstairs to screw up when a Time Lord suffered a serious concussion, and the Doctor knew that was at the top of the list of current injuries.  She didn't know if there was others, and the head injury was quite decisively preventing any sense of anything else being wrong.

She struggled to remember what had happened.  Oh.  Had she been with anyone else?  She dimly remembered it was the thing she often did.  But even that seemed off.  Well, no matter.  She would limp to her bedroom and tell her TARDIS to hover somewhere while she healed the concussion off in the infirmary or Zero Room.

Little alarm bells went off in what was left of her head.

A memory filtered in of not having a Zero Room anymore.  But why?  Oh, it was too hard to concentrate.  Maybe Jack would... ah... she had been travelling with someone.  Someone named Jack.  She had been talking with him when the Time Rotor had seized suddenly and the console had exploded in her face...

... well, scratch hovering and recovering.  Memory came flooding back and she had to lie down as she was literally made too dizzy with it all.  "Jack.." she whispered, as loud as she could manage.

She licked her dry lips.  "Ianto!" she called out.  "Jack!"

That effort caused daggers of pain to grow in her skull and she clutched at her head as she literally tried to will the agony to silence.  She heard a moan and then another one, and then there was the sound of something being thrown aside.  "Ianto?" called Jack.  "Doc?"

"I think I heard her over here, Jack," came Ianto's voice, which sounded much closer.  "Here help me get this shelf off of her."

She was aware of something heavy being lifted off of her legs and body, and the books being pushed aside.  Pain in her ribs, legs and arms erupted and she groaned even louder.  "Easy, Doc," said Jack as he gingerly cradled her.  "We've got you."

Ianto checked her over.  "She's hurt badly," he said.  "I'm guessing a really bad head injury, as well as cracked ribs, and bruised, but not broken, legs.  She shouldn't be moved except to the infirmary.  And we can't give her much for the pain because of her head injury.  That will also prevent the healing trance and coma.  She'll have to suffer through this."

"Okay, let's go there and get a stretcher, then we'll..." Jack looked at the console and then into the dark of the interior.  "Okay, obviously we're not going to be able to stay on the TARDIS for long.  She's going to initiate a repair sequence and we can't be on board for this... I'll go to the infirmary and get what we can for supplies.  You stay here with her and keep watch."

Ianto sat with her, and was surprised when she opened her eyes and struggled to sit up.  "No, you don't," he said as he gently pushed her back down again.  "You're hurt badly.  Can't risk those ribs puncturing a lung.  Lie still and rest."

"TARDIS... repair... can't stay on board."

"We know, we're getting gear together."

"Survival gear... under grating near door.  Three packs... should be enough for small army to last on until she's done," the Doctor grasped his arm.  "Can't... healing coma... head..."

"Yeah, tell us something we don't know," laughed Ianto humorlessly.  "Just shut up and rest, Doctor.  You're in good hands."

He used his jacket to cushion her head and went to where she told him these packs would be.  Sure enough there were exactly three of them.  He took those out and put them by the door.  As he did so, he looked at what they were in for.

There was sand as far as he could see.  The light was strange, as if it was... oh.  Two suns, one blue one and one red one.  Wonderful.  A desert planet with two suns.  A wonderful piece of heaven to crash a spaceship on with no real hope of rescue.  At least the TARDIS had a subroutine that would repair what had been damaged eventually; enough, at least, to fly again to someplace where the Doctor could further repair what had been damaged.  Unfortunately, the Doctor wasn't in any better shape than the TARDIS.  Ianto blew out a breath that could have been a curse.  He turned to face the interior when he heard Jack come back into the console room.  "Jack, you're not going to like what we're facing outside."

"Oh?" asked Jack as he slid the stretcher beside the Doctor.

He and Ianto gently moved the Doctor onto the stretcher.  "We don't have much choice.  The interior is slowly being closed off, we've got to move.  I take it those are survival packs?"

"Yes, she came to long enough to tell me where they were.  I took all three," said Ianto, smiling finally.  "Might come in handy."

He and Jack lifted the Doctor and carried her to the door, where Ianto, still able to hold on to his end of the stretcher, threw the three packs outside with the medical supplies.  The sand was cushion enough.  Once this was done and the three were outside the TARDIS, the doors slammed shut and no key, not even the Doctor's, would open those doors again until she was finished with her self-repair.

Jack and Ianto laid the Doctor down.  "First things first, let's set up camp."

The two opened one pack and, neither were surprised, the one pack appeared to have enough for six to survive on for at least three weeks, perhaps longer.  Ianto blew out another breath.  "Well, If there's enough for six, that's double the length of time for us.  Times three, since we have a pack each."

They set up one tent though, and again, while it wasn't bigger on the inside, it was generous.  It was four compartments.  One, larger, main one with what appeared to be three smaller ones that appeared to be big enough for two tall people to sleep.  That arrangement was rather cozy...  

Jack opened up a silvery tarp to run over the whole of the tent, plus a small area around.  Normally, this tarp was to keep the rain off the actual tent and the area around it, but he knew the silver colouring would reflect the worst of the sun's heat in the day and also allow breezes to circulate.  This would keep the other tent cooler, as well as darker.  He tilted it so that the back of the tarp was nearly touching the ground at the back and sides.

Ianto and Jack settled the Doctor into the back compartment, where it was darkest and coolest.  The stretcher was of interesting engineering.  It was a stretcher, of course, and, once the legs were extended, a sturdy cot.  This relieved Jack.  He had not wanted to leave her on the ground.  

Together, the men began loosening her clothing, being careful not to strip too much away because of the heat and fullness of the two suns.  Ianto took off her shoes and socks, while Jack unbuttoned the over sweater she wore. The Jack gently pulled off the sweater underneath.  Ianto looked at him funny and smiled.  "They wear so many layers," he mused.

Jack made a frustrated face when he noticed that under her blouse was yet another layer, this one a lacy chemise below that her bra.  He took the blouse off, then rolled her over to loosen the bra off, leaving the chemise.  Finally, with a sigh, they took off her trousers, but left her underwear.  Same with the bra.  Ianto neatly packed them away into one of the packs to prevent losing them before they covered her with a soft blanket.  "She looks more comfortable," agreed Ianto.  "I having to take people's clothes off to treat them, but you have to be sure..."

Jack grunted.  "All right, let her rest.  Maybe she'll be more awake later and able to help get herself into something better suited for sleeping."

Ianto and Jack, once she was settled, finished setting up their camp and then sat in the surprisingly comfortable camp.  "If I didn't know better, I'd say we'd found a little known corner of the TARDIS," said Jack, as he looked over at the Doctor where she lay.

They relaxed then, stopping to consider the totality of their handiwork, nothing the simplicity of the tent, it's compartments and the tarp...

The compartments also were able to be opened onto the main one.  All it took to close them off was to drop two fabric panels back down.  The sudden silence and coolness inside clued Jack into realizing that perhaps there was more to this fabric than he thought.  There was no sound from outside, not even the wind, once they closed it all off.  Both he and Ianto found it too eerie and had opened the main flaps again.  Those flaps in the interior also had the same effect, giving each room privacy from the other or from the main area.

The inside was roomy, and they had found more cots, like the one the Doctor was one, in the pack.  Six, to be exact, which confirmed how many one pack was to supply, as well as supplies for six in the way of clothes, personal items, and other supplies.  Ianto was pleased at this.  "A sign of an advanced civilization is one that thinks of such items in even their emergency supplies, and then to only make people share if absolutely necessary.  If not, everyone gets their own."

Jack saw something else, something decidedly more telling when it came to the many purposes a TARDIS could be put to.  "Does it not seem... military to you?" he asked.  "Except for the silver tarp which covers us, everything is... meant to hide us into the background."

"The tarp is only silver on our side of it, Jack," pointed out Ianto.  "A few minutes after you went to tend the Doctor when we got it all set up it took on the same shades as the sand outside.  If someone were to fly over, they'd not see us... if not for the TARDIS."

"The tarp chameleon-ed?" asked Jack, his eyes wide.  "We're hidden in the sand?"

"Yeah, just another sand dune among other sand dunes.  Gallifrey obviously had it's own space navy, and the Doctor, and the TARDIS, were part of it... probably during the Time War when he'd have had little choice," said Ianto.   "What, don't be so surprised.  Tosh hacked into the UNIT records a lot."

"It's just that I'm a bit surprised that you know so much.  How much is due to Tosh's hacking, and how much due to this Autumn?" asked Jack plainly.

For a long moment Ianto was silent, and that was answer enough for Jack.  Evidently quite a bit was due to Autumn, and not Tosh's hacking.  "How long did you travel with her?"

"Long enough," admitted Ianto.  "But,  you being you you've likely seen enough to make what I did seem run of the mill."

"I don't know," said Jack.  "Honestly, I travelled quite a bit on my own.  Maybe you didn't know, but  I wasn't from Earth, or your time period.  I'm from the fifty-first century, and, although I'm human, or I was before the touch of Bad Wolf, I was born on a colony world.  So I've seen enough on my own.  Even time travel, although not so smoothly as in the TARDIS.  I was a Time Agent before this."

Ianto nodded.  "Did he ever take you to see Gallifrey?" asked Ianto.

Jack froze, and then he turned slowly to look in Ianto's eyes.  What he saw there told him what he needed to know.  Ianto, in being on the TARDIS now, was a crossed time line.  He was in the Doctor's past.  If anything, he was from before the Doctor.  From a time when Gallifrey still stood as the capitol of the Time Lords.  "Did you?" he asked.

"I did," answered Ianto.  "I stood in fields of red grass and gazed upon the citadel of the Time Lords."

Jack pulled up a chair.  "What was it like?"

"I only saw one place," began Ianto.  "Enough to be... The sky was orange, Jack, orange, but it wasn't strange.  It was beautiful.  Like a permanent sunset, or a permanent dawn.  I was in a plain, and there were mountains in the far distance.  It was as close as she dared take to anything close to their society.  Outsiders, aliens... it's not that they weren't welcome on Gallifrey but they had to go through channels to visit, and I had not gone through those channels.  But I remember that plain and I will to my dying day.  The grass was red, but it was full and healthy.  Like green is on Earth, red must also be there.   There was a forest of silver trees in the distance, and I could hear the faint sound of chimes.  She told me it was the sound of the wind through those leaves.  If I closed my eyes and listened I would hear that.  So I did.  It was... I can't begin to describe it.  She showed me so much that there was no way I could have been gone for only a week, but yet she brought me back exactly six days after we left Earth.  And then she left.  And I never saw her again, Jack.  And now... I find out she's dead, and that beautiful world is gone.  Dust.  How many years have passed?  Did pass between her leaving me and you meeting him... and then his death and her taking...?"

He cut off suddenly as they both turned to the tent opening.  There was this sound outside.  It wasn't the wind.  It sounded like the boot falls of innumerable feet, only heavier, deeper than that.  Almost like drum beats on the ground.

Jack and Ianto walked outside and found themselves face to faces with the entirety of a nomadic tribe around their camp.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * *

  
Jack stared around in surprise, and he could see the surprise in the faces of these people as well.  He could understand why.  They'd like come to investigate the blue box, but had not seen the camp until right on top of it, thanks to the chameleon-circuited tarp.  And then two men had suddenly appeared out from under what they'd thought to be a sand bank.  It was a long, tense moment.  Jack hoped sincerely that this time the translation circuit was working despite the Doctor's unconsciousness and the TARDIS being temporarily out of order.

For a long moment the tribe looked around and finally one man came forward.  "Greetings, I am Hagath, chieftain of this tribe.  You?"

Well, it wasn't perfect, but at least he was relatively understandable.  "Jack, and Ianto," answered Jack.  "We came in a ship... from the stars."

"Ah, a traveller in space.  We understand this," answered Hagath.  "And that is your ship?"

Jack blinked and looked at Ianto at the improving translation.  So it was taking longer to settle and complete... but at least they could live with it.  "Our ship was damaged.  We crashed here.  It can repair itself to a point but we will need to make repairs to finish.  Is there a trading port or facility on this planet?" he asked.

"There is," answered Hagath.  "But, it is many, many days to the west of here.  It would take a year and a half of travel to get there.  Longer if on foot.  And the desert is unforgiving..."

Jack sighed and looked up in the sky and then over at Ianto.  "Sorry for getting you stuck here."

Ianto shrugged.  "It is different."

The tribal leader looked from one tribe member to the other and then suggested, "There is a better place than this to wait out the self-repair cycle of your ship, even with the best of survival kits.  To the North there is an oasis.  It is approximately a day's travel one way.  We are headed there now.  If you wish to travel with us, we would be happy to have you along so long as you are self-sufficient.  If not, well, we can come to an arrangement regarding that as well."

"We have supplies of our own," said Jack.  "But our cart's wheels are clogged with sand.  I would say we could trade something for a beast of burden, but we have little but for our survival packs.  And there is one other with us - our Captain.  She was gravely injured in the crash and needs medical care.  Now, while we can take care of her, the transportation is an issue."

The tribal leader turned to another, and after a short deliberation, one of their beasts, as well as a rolling wagon, was brought forward.  "You may use this to transport your captain and any further supplies.  But I must speak with you privately," said Hagath as he drew them aside, and then the conversation was softly spoken.  "You said your Captain was a female, yes?"

"We did," answered Jack.  "Why?"

"Now, while we are an educated tribe," Hagath smiled.  "...the others are not so progressive.  And, the oasis is a meeting ground for all of us.  The females are not equal to the males, and many tribes and men treat them little better than they do their dogs.  We believe, while they have no power in our tribe, that they are treasures and treat them better, even entertain their opinions.  But no more than that.  It would be best that you keep the fact that she is your Captain and leader quiet."

"I see," said Jack.

"And now we should set camp.  We dare not be caught up when the suns reach their zenith," said Hagath.

Jack and Ianto didn't have a chance to ask why before the entire tribe became a flurry of activity as they set up their camp.  Tents were set up and then tarps were stretched over them, connecting them all together like a tent within a tent.  Hagath pronounced that the large over-tents be extended over theirs as well and they found themselves under the massive tent.  Beasts and all were covered over.

They waited out of the way in their tent, and it was at this point that he saw the Doctor's eyes open as she looked around in confusion.  "Hey," said Jack, as he touched her shoulder.

She tried to push herself up but Jack eased her back down again.  "Oh no you don't," said Jack.  "Lay back down.  You try to get up now you'll only fall down again.  How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy," she answered.  "Tired.  Jack... I'm severely concussed.  Concussions are the one thing that are worse for a Time Lord than they are for a human.  A regeneration was caused from a knock to the head... my fifth... I think... can't quite remember.  Thankfully, that didn't cause one this time."

She was quiet for a while and Jack was afraid he had lost her to unconsciousness again.  Ianto and Hagath had entered at this point.  A moment later her eyes fluttered open again.  "Jack..."

"Doctor, does a Time Lord recover the same as a human?" he asked.

"Yes."  She struggled for a moment, and he knew she was struggling to stay awake as sleep was pulling her back down again.  "TARDIS... using Ianto... translation... switching... off of me..."

That was all she had the strength for before her eyes fell closed again and her breathing evened out as she fell asleep.  Jack shook her shoulder and saw that she could still be woken easily.  And she was just asleep, thankfully enough.  Deeply asleep, but only that.  Even so... he knew head injuries meant that was the only thing she was going to do for days.  If she were human.  However, what she'd said had alarmed him.  _The only kind of injury that's more dangerous for a Time Lord that a human is a head injury... it's their one weak point out of so many stronger areas_.

"Jack..."

Jack looked up at Ianto's voice and saw the look on Hagath's face.  "This is our..."

"She is a Lord of Time?" asked Hagath in awe, then he grew serious.  "This woman is no mere woman, but an Ancient Elder.  A Lord of Time.  Tell no one else this."

"What do you know of them?" asked Jack in shock.

"Our world using to be a living world, a vibrant one, but has been like you see for millenia when the second sun was brought from another constellation.  It was during a war between the Lords of Time and their Greatest Enemy.  The Enemy sought to use our world and drain it of our resources.  They brought this second sun to use as energy," explained Hagath.  "And then the Lords of Time came and saved us from annihilation.  They were able to repair the damage, and managed, somehow, with their technology, to move the second sun or our world to a place of a reasonable distance.  Life would not be easy, but survivable.  They promised to eventually return and help in rebuilding but never did.  Some say the war did not go well for either side, and because no one has seen either we believed both sides must have perished in the war."

"That's kind of accurate," said Jack, looking at Ianto with apology.  "She is the Last of the Time Lords, or one of so few that she may as well be."

Hagath hung his head in sorrow, then looked up.  "I have come to a decision, when she recovers I will beg audience with her and ask for anything she can do.  But I understand that she is only one Time Lord.  I will ask for at least her counsel.  Until then, because she is in our camp, she is under our protection."

"Thanks..." started Jack.

"No, thank you," said Hagath.  "We are honoured by your arrival.  I take it that blue box is her time ship, then?"

"Her TARDIS, yes," answered Ianto.

"Come with me, then," Hagath motioned for Jack and Ianto to follow him as he left their tent.

Hagath cleared his throat and then he shouted loudly enough for the entire camp to hear.  "On my honour and the honour of my house no harm must come to our Revered Guests and the woman with them, nor to anything they have brought."

At that point he clapped Jack on the shoulder with a grin as the rest of the tribe retired to their tents and the suns reached their zenith.  "I would invite you to my tent, but I understand that you would not want to go far from her side.  However, a different offer can be made, if I am not imposing..."

"What we have in our tent is little more than survival rations, but you're welcome to them," said Jack.

"I was thinking more like using your tent and having the dinner brought to us, only without the typical noise of dancing women and drinking men.  She will need quiet to rest, as my wife would say," said Hagath.  "If that is not too much bother, I can make the arrangements."

"It's not," said Jack, surprised.  "The tent is surprisingly... private.  I can close off her section and she wouldn't be disturbed.  Also, I have a device that will let me me hear what's going on in her room, and she won't hear what's going out here if I mute it.  It's called a cell phone."

"I see," said Hagath.

"I'll set it up, Jack," said Ianto.  "We'll use the headsets.  I'll just make sure one of the headsets are in her ear.  That, if you have to, you can unmutilated and talk to her.  We'll be a button push away."

Jack nodded as Ianto bent down to her and deftly inserted the ear bud part of the headset into her right ear and then clipped the other part to her pillow.  They used the FRS function on the phone to connect to Jack's and Ianto's phones out of habit.  The FRS worked like a more sophisticated walkie-talkie, and allowed the device to be used without using minutes or tying up the phone and therefore allowed it to still be used as a phone.  It also had the added benefit of not using as much battery power.  That set up, Ianto then exited the room, closing the flap as he did so.

Jack muted his FRS, as did Ianto.  Both would now be able to hear if she needed help or if she woke, but she wouldn't be able to hear them or be disturbed by the outside.  They visibly relaxed, able to talk at normal volume, knowing she was now resting in quiet while they could continue on relatively normally.

During the dinner, which including the dancing girls and the others of the tribe as they met in the middle of the tent city, in the centre where the tents made a circle around it.  As it broke up Jack turned to Hagath.  "What is the purpose of the tent corridors?"

Hagath motioned for him to follow as he took a piece of meat from his plate.  They went to the outside edge.  He lifted the tarp slightly and threw the meat in the sun.  It sizzled and blackened before hitting the sand, continuing to curl in on itself.  Ianto and Jack stared in horror.  "We sleep in the worst of the sun, and have learned to live in the tents that prevent the heat.  We learned how to fashion them from the tanned hides layered with the fabric on the inside, and use the sand to grind and melt into the hide to make it reflective on the outside.  Like you, we use it over our tents to protect from the heat of the sun, but leave enough space for breezes and air to cool our tents," explained Hagath.  "We call this period Bright Night.  It happens every twenty eight hours, when both suns reach their zenith in the sky, and lasts for four hours each day.  We also have a fourth period of near absolute dark, but since we have three moons, we never truly have perfect dark.  But, since our dark is when we are active the most we call it Dark Noon.  It is when our markets are busiest during the coolest part of the day.  It is also the only time we can see the stars.  Welcome to Cengei."

With that Hagath took his leave and retired to his tent.

Jack and Ianto looked at each other before retiring to their respective rooms in their tent to attempt to sleep.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * *

  
When the first sun began to dip down, and the heat subsided, Jack woke and moved into the central room of their tent.  He rubbed his face, cleaned up a bit, then looked in on the Doctor.  She still slept on, oblivious to their new worry and likely not even aware of which planet they were on or when they were.  He gently shook her awake and said, smiling apologetically, "Sorry, but I figured you'd want to clean up a bit, maybe have a bit of tea."

"Thank you," she said in a whisper, when she touched the ear-bud in her ear in puzzlement.

"Just in case you needed me, Ianto set up a FRS system so we were just a phone call away," he answered, smiling at the look of surprise on her face.

"Good idea," she answered, as she lay back, the tea cup held loosely in her hand.

Jack took the cup from her limp hand as she fell back to sleep very quickly.  The very act of waking, cleaning up, with his assistance, and having tea had exhausted her.  He heard Ianto moving in the main room and came out as Ianto made coffee.  Jack almost ran over for it and he saw the Welsh man's smirk.  "Oh, you know it," said Jack.

"I do," purred Ianto, then he turned serious.  "How is she?"

"Sleeping again.  Managed to clean her up a bit and get some tea into her.  Looks better than she did yesterday.  Doesn't seem to be in as much pain.  I think her ribs are healing," Jack rested his head on the table.  "Her head is still messed up though."

Ianto nodded as they took their breakfast in the form of the rations from the survival packs.  They came to the conclusion that rations, no matter their origin, were just as nasty as those from Earth.  Even Gallifreyan ones, despite the rather interesting and unusually exotic taste, had a back taste like bitter walnuts that had been left to roast far too long.  That or the shells of said walnuts.  Jack had to laugh.  "Remind me to tell the Doctor that even Time Lord rations suck as bad as Earth ones.  Superior my ass."

Ianto chortled at this.  "Don't worry, I'll be the second in line to remind her that for all her fancy Gallifreyan rations' _superiority_ , human rations like taste better.  And that says quite a lot."

Hagath announced himself and came into their tent.  "Ah good, you are awake and you have broken your fast.  We are breaking camp.  We have lent you a beast and a cart.  The Lord of Time will ride in a palanquin with my wife and daughter.  It is a comfortable ride and cooler.  She can sleep in comfort without worrying about being disturbed.  I have brought my wife and daughter in to make sure she is dressed properly for someone convalescing, but yet decently for a woman."

The two women came in and went into the interior of the tent.  Jack and Ianto packed everything back into the survival pack, except for the Doctor's cot and the tent itself.  Once two men from the tribe had carried her out and onto a palanquin, they packed up the tent and put it into the pack again, and then packed everything onto the back of the beast.  Hagath and his men broke down the cart into pieces, and it was obviously used for something else.

In about an hour and a half the camp was broken down and they moved on as if the camp had never been.  Jack and Ianto looked back at the TARDIS in regret.

Only a day's travel away.

They would be back for it.

* * * * * * * *

  
It was getting progressively lighter and hotter when Hagath called a halt and for camp to be made.  Jack looked around as he and Ianto set up their tent as the large over-tent was then rolled over them all and set up.  The oasis, which was supposedly a day's travel away, was no where in sight.  He was agitated and worried about this, but chose not to be rude about it.  But, when Hagath finally made his way back over to them, Jack finally asked, "Where is this supposed oasis a day away, Hagath?  I don't mean to sound rude, but..."

"It can be, if you pushed a beast into running the whole way.  But, with a caravan, no," he answered, visibly embarrassed by the oversight.  "I am sorry if it seems we were slightly misleading.  It was not the intent.  We also left late this morning.  When we arrive at the oasis, there will be a meeting of the other tribes and I would prefer we look rested and alert when we arrive."

"Are you at war with them?" asked Jack.

"No, nothing like that," answered Hagath.  "I just prefer to not lose more resources than necessary."

"A very proper way of going about things," said Ianto.

"Thank you," said Hagath, and he relaxed at this.

The Doctor was brought back to their camp by two men and laid back in her compartment of the tent.  "My wife tells me she never stirred, not once, when in the palanquin.  But she also noticed that she had two hearts and said so to our daughter.  I am afraid our secret is out regarding her origins, but it is still between us and my immediate family.  So far."

Jack nodded seriously as he checked her over before letting her sleep on as he let the tent flap fall for privacy.

The Bright Night came upon them all, and they retired with much relief to their tents to sleep.

* * * * * * * *

  
It was during the Dark Noon when Jack heard a low moan through his headset and he fell back to the palanquin as the Doctor woke up.  "Jack?" she called out, and was reassured by the healer woman.  "Where am I... where is Jack and Ianto?"

Jack was still there.  "Doctor, don't be alarmed - we've agreed to go with Hagath's tribe to an oasis while the TARDIS repairs itself.  It will be easier and more comfortable there."

"Why can I hear you but not see you?  And yes, I remember the headset, but I can hear you a short distance away..."

"You're in our palanquin.  My name is Reinna, and these are my daughters Heintia and Lorenna," answered the wife of Hagath.  "My husband is Hagath, the leader of our tribe, and you are our Revered Guest... oh... sir, it appears she has fallen asleep again."

"Thank you, Reinna," sighed Jack as he rode forward again and updated Ianto.

"I guess we're on our own on this one," stated Ianto.

"Yeah, no kidding."

He was relieved when the dark fell and Hagath called a halt for Dark Noon.  However, that was broken when he and another man came to him and Ianto.  "Can we perhaps talk?" asked Hagath.

Jack had a feeling this was where the other shoe was dropped.  Things weren't as perfect as it seemed and the Doctor and the Companions were needed for something other than the obvious.  The obvious being the state of the planet due to the Time War.  And now here came that other shoe...  Jack nodded as he and Ianto met around a fire drinking coffee, made by Ianto in the portable stove from the kit, with Hagath and this other man.  "This is my brother, Koranath," began Hagath.  "Koranath, is this Jack and Ianto.  They are with the Lady of Time."

Ianto and Jack exchanged a look.  "Okay, what's wrong?" asked Jack.

"Wrong?" asked Koranath.

"The TARDIS has a habit - it takes us where we're needed, even if it's being functional or crashing," answered Jack.  "It even tends to override the Doctor sometimes.  We're here, which means we're here for a reason."

Hagath and Koranath's eyebrows lifted up higher and Koranath smiled.  "See, brother, I told you they would not be surprised."

Hagath made a noise that sounded like a cross between a loud breath out and a grunt.  "Yes, well, one never knows... and it would have been rude to do so before asking."  He turned his attention back to Jack and Ianto.  "Wrong.  Yes.  Apt word.  Yes, there is something very wrong here and we were hoping for a bit of a stay.  You see, when we get to the oasis, which is why we are not in a hurry to get there, the tribes meet there to settle a lottery in which our best and brightest children are sold into slavery, or worse.  There is a time we can delay, and I would very much like to use it, but I know you are eager to get to this oasis and that the Lady is grievously injured and would best recover there.  And so you see my dilemma."

Jack nodded in understanding.  "We can help as much as we can, but I cannot promise anything.  All I can promise is our best."

"That is far more than I expected."

"Do you have any ideas?" asked Ianto to Hagath.

Hagath thought for a moment.  "I was hoping the Lady of Time would be more recovered, because I know as my great-grandfather met them, that she is clever by culture and very strong.  She would know of them, have a way out.  Or perhaps her very reputation as a Lord of Time would give the slavers pause."

"How long can we delay arrival at the oasis?" asked Jack.

"One week," answered Koranath.  "Six of our days."

"Let's take it then," suggested Ianto.  "Maybe she will have recovered enough to come up with something, even if we have to carry it out ourselves."

For a long moment Hagath and Koranath stood there in shock.  "That is... an incredible boon," said Hagath.  "We will tell our people we will have our delay as planned, and that it was granted by our Revered Guests."

"Brother, I see no point in hiding the Lady of Time's nature any longer.  The rest of camp will soon know what she is, anyway."

"I agree," said Jack.

"Very well.  We will hold a celebration in her honour and yours tonight.  We will also not break camp but settle here for the rest of the week until we absolutely have to break camp.  It will allow her rest," said Hagath.

* * * * * * * * *

  
For Jack and Ianto, the week passed slowly with little to do but watch the Doctor heal.  By the end of the fourth day he noticed her ribs were much improved, and if anything, were well on their way to mending.  They weren't completely healed as light touches would still get a grunt of pain, but Jack could tell that they were set.  Perhaps still a bit sensitive and healing, but they weren't the danger anymore.

Hagath's wife and daughters still came to check on her progress, giving her healing teas and wrapping her ribs in a smelly, but obviously effective, poultice like wrap.  The Doctor rested easier with it on so he figured it was some sort of pain buffer.  It was rather warm to the touch.  Ianto pointed out it was likely working like a hot water bottle on sore muscles.

Her head continued to progress slowly.  She simply slept through the first day, barely waking for minutes before sliding back to sleep again.  The second day was the same, as was the third.  The fourth saw the major change as Reinna changed the wrap around her ribs and gave a squeak of surprise when the Doctor's eyes opened and focused on her.  "You again?" asked the Doctor, sounding mildly amused.  "Thank you for caring for me.  Far better to have a fellow woman than a male... especially considering my state of undress."

Reinna was wordless in shock, but recovered quickly.  "Lady, it was my honour to tend to you.  Are you feeling better?"

"Much, that wrap feels wonderful on sore bones," she answered.  "I'm not completely well yet, but I can think much more clearly than before.  Where am I?"

"You are in the camp of Hagath, my husband.  Jack and Ianto have been holding many conferences with him."

"I... see..." answered the Doctor slowly.  "This may come as a strange question, but you wouldn't happen to know which planet this is... or time?"

"Planet, yes, it is called Cengei," answered Reinna.  "Time... I am not sure, especially on how to put it into your context.  Can you not tell, my Lady?"

The Doctor crinkled her brows.  "No... not yet.  That's what worries me.  I should also be able to tell as it passes, but I cannot yet.  I still need to rest.  Maybe tomorrow or the next..."

"Then rest," soothed Reinna.  "All will be well tomorrow.  I will tell your friends that you awoke enough to speak with me, and it has honoured me."

"Yes... about that... what do you mean?" asked the Doctor, trying to stay awake... but that warmth from the poultice was so soothing and sleep was calling so strongly...

"Just rest, and we will tell you when you are stronger."

The pull proved too strong and she felt herself fade back again as oblivion tipped her over the edge of the cliff into deep sleep.  The talk had exhausted her and her head still felt like it was crammed full of cotton.  Thinking tired her out.

Reinna watched, barely letting herself breathe, as the Time Lord fell back to sleep again.  As gravely injured as she was the tales were very true about their ability to heal, and their strength.  Once the Doctor was asleep peacefully, and not trying to fight it, Reinna stood, bowed, and then exited the compartment of the tent where she slept and entered the main one where her guardian and the two men were.  "The Lady woke, and we spoke for a short time.  She is asleep again."

Jack blinked.  "She was?"

He and Ianto, once Reinna had taken over caring for the Doctor, only used the FRS at night, when everyone was asleep.  Just in case.  The Doctor had never awoken, but it was a sound precaution.  "She was not awake long, only long enough to find out from me that she was in our camp, and what planet.  I had no answer for her other question, which regarded Time.  She is worried that her senses regarding time have not recovered yet and is confused on how long she has been here and how long it has been since she was injured, but I reassured her that with rest she would likely regain it.  Rather, she reassured me that it would come back.  She fell asleep soon after.  But she is gaining in strength quickly."

Jack nodded.  He was relieved to hear that, even if it had been him with her, instead of a stranger.

* * * * * * *

  
Two days later, Jack was surprised one morning when he found the Doctor sitting at their camp table drinking some tea.  She was still leaning horribly to one side and still very pale, and looked exhausted, but considering she was upright and awake... he was thrilled to see it.  "Doctor!" he called happily.

Ianto came tumbling out, his headset in his ear at Jack's yell.  He blinked at the sight at the table and also smiled.  "You have no idea how happy we are to see you up and about," said Ianto.

"I'm not quite there yet, but getting there," she admitted.  "I feel much stronger than I did, though."

The tent flap rustled and Reinna and her guard entered.  For a long moment Reinna regarded the Doctor in shock, but she withdrew immediately, as did her guardian.  Moments later Hagath announced himself and entered, sitting opposite of the Doctor.  "My Lady, it is an honour to finally meet you," began Hagath, and he explained everything.

It was pretty much as he had told Jack and Ianto, and the Doctor listened quietly.  When Hagath finished, the Doctor nodded.  "I will of course help you as much I can, given the circumstances.  And yes, Jack and Ianto are right.  Even if they have to carry it out I will see what I can come up with.  I have until tomorrow when we arrive at the oasis, hmm?"

Hagath nodded.  "We will be late, but not over late."

"Good, good," said the Doctor.  "And your people do not mind me being here?"

"By far not!' exclaimed Koranath as he came in and heard the last bit.  "The rumour mill is for once true.  I see the Lady of Time is up and awake!"

She looked at Jack, and Jack explained.  She paled visibly.  "I see, well, I'll do what I can about that as well.  I can't promise much.  I'm solo, so to speak," she said.

"We weren't truly expecting anything to be done," admitted Hagath.

"Which sun, historically, is actually your sun?"

"The red one," answered Hagath.  "The blue one was dragged here from... we don't know where."

"All right then," answered the Doctor.  "I'll have to look into that.  First things first... this slaver problem."

"My Lady, in your honour I will proclaim that the women of our tribe are no longer property, but equal to men in every way," said Hagath.  "In truth... I would have done so long ago but the more conservative members of our tribe were against it.  Now that it is plain that you are here, are what you are... and a woman... they cannot deny me this."

The Doctor's eyes widened momentarily but she recovered quickly.  "Yes, well, such things usually run their course anyway..."

Hagath and Koranath left the tent and she wilted visibly, resting her head on the table, her hand limply grasping her tea cup.  Jack touched her back.  "Are you all right?" he asked.

"That tired me out," she admitted.  "I think I'll nap more."

"Well, they're pulling up stakes to move on to the oasis.  You want to be woken or do you want to rest in the palanquin?" asked Ianto.

"I'll rest until it's time to move and figure it out then," she answered as she yawned, and then with Jack's assistance moved back to her cot and laid down.

She was asleep in minutes.  "I think she's riding in the palanquin," said Jack, grinning.

Ianto nodded, also grinning.  Maybe with her nearly recovered the TARDIS would be, too...

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * *

  
The camp was pulled up and, ironically, it was in the midst of being moved that the Doctor awoke with a start.  Jack and Ianto set down the cot as the Doctor sat up and waved off their assistance.  "I can ride," she insisted.

Hagath was at her side immediately, helping her onto a beast.  "He is our most steady beast," he said.  "He will not jar you overmuch, but if you feel you need rest, we will stop and let you rest, Lady."

Jack and Ianto broke down the cot, and slipped into the medical pack before also mounting their respective beasts.  The Doctor rode in the front with Hagath and Koranath.  Much to their relief, one of the women had seen fit to dress her in one of their loose robes, if in a feminine colour but cut like the mens, so that her dignity remained intact.

It was Dark Noon when they arrived at the oasis, and Jack saw the exhaustion in the Doctor even as she hid it and drew on reserves to keep herself upright.  She had been deep in discussions with Hagath and Koranath the entire morning.

The other tribes had clearly already arrived and a few of their leaders upon seeing the Doctor ran up to Hagath.  "What is this?!  You have a woman leading your tribe?"

"We should leave her in the light of the Bright Night for this... this..." he couldn't finish.

Koranath's voice boomed loudly enough for all the camps to hear across the oasis.  Even if not quite that loud, it was loud enough that enough heard that it would be all across the oasis in quick order.  "You dare threaten a Lord of Time?!"

Jack watched the tribal leaders flounder around at this.  One regained his voice and demanded, "Show us proof of this!"

The Doctor slid off the beast and stood before him.  "I am from Gallifrey, in the Kasterborous.  I came by a Time Ship, landing here in the desert where I met Hagath and his tribe.  I am known simply as the Doctor, as my name has been sealed.  I was honoured by their hospitality when I appeared weak and sick."

"That proves nothing!  I demand I listen to your back.  The Lords of Time have two hearts.  That alone will prove your treachery," said another as he stepped forwards.

The Doctor simply turned her back and gestured for him to get on with it.  Her blithe allowance somewhat gave him pause, but he boldly laid one hand on the left side of her back, before laying another on her right.  He drew his hands back as if burnt, and fell to his knees, visibly shaken.  "Is this proof enough for you who doubt?" she shouted.

The others of the other tribes slowly dropped to their knees.  The Doctor sighed in exasperation.  "Oh, get off your knees.  I have heard of your plight and I am here to help you.  But I need your help in making it work."

The first to doubt was the first to pledge her aid.  "I am here and will do as you ask, Doctor."

"As will I," said the one who had felt her hearts beat beneath his hands.

There was the rumble of assent throughout the entire oasis.  Hagath said, "I have freed my women, as having her here proves that it is time for that to come.  What say the rest of you?  Is this proof enough?"

The other tribal leaders looked at each other, but nodded.  Two women ran to Hagath from another camp as he slid off the beast.  Hagath hugged them close as a younger man slowly walked up to him, looking slightly sheepish.  Hagath turned to the Doctor.  "This is my youngest daughter and my granddaughter, whom I have not met before today.  Now that they are free, I can visit them and they can visit me.  Ah, and here is my son in law."

The Doctor smiled.  "I'm glad that worked out for you, Hagath."

Jack walked up and subtly gave her support under her elbow.  "So, what's your plan?"

"Oh, that's easy, Jack.  We're going to take the place of the tribe's children."

"The slavers will not be here until tomorrow at Dark Noon," said Hagath in explanation.

"That's good.  I think... I think I will retire to my tent until then," said the Doctor as she took her leave.

Jack was close at her heels, seeing her wilting quickly.  Jack and Ianto, once she was out of sight of the other tribes, helped support her as they helped her walk to the tent.  She collapsed gratefully into the cot and fell asleep.  Jack watched her for a bit before dropping the flap to her compartment to let her rest.

* * * * * * *

  
The next morning the Doctor was up again, and she prepared some sort of device.  Jack didn't profess to know what it was and shrugged when Ianto looked at him.  She then winked and retired back to her cot until Jack shook her shoulder to wake her for Dark Noon.  Evidently, the slavers were a bit late, but that was fine, according to her.

"After all, they wouldn't want to be on time.  No, it's better to make the poor people they are ripping off stew.  Of course, if anyone else was late," she fairly ranted as she drank her tea.

Hagath looked at her in vague amusement while the other tribal leaders looked at her in shock.  "So, you simply intend to hand yourself over?" he asked.  "May I ask what good will that do?"

"Well, can't get on their ship otherwise.  Have to take Jack and Ianto with me because I'll need the extra hands."

"Doctor, can't help but notice the lack of a way back here when we're finished," pointed out Jack.

"Oh, you'll see when it comes time," she reassured him.  "Ah, now, look, that's an entrance... transmat if I'm right.  And how did I know to expect the Sycorax again."

The four Sycorax stared at her, and, although they knew they weren't speaking the Queen's English, it was quite plain to hear.  "How do you know who we are?" came the leader's surprised shout.

"Oh, I'm the Doctor," answered the Doctor.  "And, instead of holding a lottery for slaves, us three have decided to come along instead so you needn't bother these people."

"And who are you?"

"I just told you!  Don't you people ever listen.  I swear!" the Doctor threw her hands up in the air.  "I'm the Doctor.  And my companions Jack and Ianto.  We're a bit stuck here so we'd appreciate the lift anyway.  So... where is your ship?  I didn't hear the sonic boom of approach so I'm assuming it's still up there somewhere."

She made a show of looking up and around.  Jack saw her toe the device hidden in the sand.  It started to flash and she buried with a toe again.  He could see the puzzled and nervous looks around the camps, and even the Sycorax looked vaguely confused.  "Who are you?" he asked again, and it sounded like he was trying to remember something.

"The Doctor.  A Time Lord.  Run that through your recognition software.  I'm sure we'll both agree that I'm a whole lot more valuable to you than these people.  Oh, at least my one is worth five or ten.  What do you say?" she grinned, although Jack could see the grin was a bit forced.

She was practically oozing the tenth incarnation of her grandfather.  On purpose.  Jack looked at Ianto in confusion.  The question was why.  And, even still, it came off a bit forced.  The Sycorax looked at each other.

All of a sudden it seemed to connect in their minds as weapons were pulled out.  The Doctor held up her hands.  "Whoa, whoa, whoa... was it something I said?" she asked.

"You are the Time Lord responsible for killing one of our world ships at Sol Three!" exclaimed the leader.  "My brother was on that ship!"

"Was he the one that tried to strike me down when my back was turned?" challenged the Doctor.

That made them pause.  The Doctor nodded.  "He was.  Then he was honourless and deserved his fate."

"What of the others?" asked the other Sycorax.  "The ones brutally murdered?"

"I can't answer for that," said the Doctor honestly.  "But I can tell you that this world would not do the same.  Now.  Shall we settle this like the last time... only with less destruction... or will you continue to be _honourless bastards with no mothers_?"

The Doctor appeared surprised as she looked at Jack.  "Didn't expect the TARDIS to translate that last part.  Evidently she's still translating for Ianto.  She usually doesn't translate that sort of thing."

Jack tried not to laugh.  The Sycorax laughed, but one drew a sword and threw it over to the Doctor.  "I sincerely hope you sword fight better than he does.  I heard stories from UNIT and Prime Minister Jones about how bad he was, but how lucky he was," said Jack.  "Remember how we ended up with a hand of his in the first place..."

"He can fight better than he let on, or it was regeneration sickness wreaking havoc with his reflexes.  All Time Lords are taught sword play and fencing as part of their education and my grandfather was one of the best..." she answered as she took a few practice swings, and then she took a stance.  "Come on, show what you've got."

Jack was impressed.  The Sycorax swept in at her legs aggressively and she simply seemed to step up and over the blade gracefully.  He took a step back, and fell into a guarded stance like hers to take stock of the situation.  "You fight better than I expect, from that avoidance," he said.  "But I fight better...!"

He moved in again, but for each strike she seemed to deflect it away, again, she moved like it was a dance.  He'd feint, and she'd counter feint.  Jack started breathing again.  It was an even match, and, if it weren't for the point of the match he'd actually be enjoying watching the show.  Finally, the Sycorax moved back and they circled each other.  He missed the eye twitch from the leader, but the others did.

It was almost too quick to follow with the eye, but suddenly all five Sycoraxi were in the fray and the Doctor fought them alone.  Ianto and Jack were helpless.  All they could do was watch.  Jack took out his gun, as did Ianto, but with the constant flurry of motion and knot of combatants there was no way to shoot into the melee without also taking the very real possibility of hitting the Doctor as well.

They circled anyway.

Finally, one Sycorax fell, the blood spray hitting the sand in a messy arc.  Two seconds later his sword was snatched up by the Doctor who then, with renewed energy re-entered the fray with both swords.  Jack watched in shock as she weaved, danced, and moved through them with the grace of a dancer and long practice.  Those swords were wielded with skill and were like extensions of her very arms.

Finally, not ten minutes later, although it seemed far longer, the Doctor stood, one blade at the throat of the lead Sycorax.  "I seem to remember this with great familiarity.  Again, I find myself betrayed and having to watch my back.  Do I show you mercy, or will you prove as treacherous as your brother was?  I'll remind you that it may have been mere years to you but centuries to me.  I have had much time to practice."

"That much is obvious, Doctor," admitted the Sycorax.  "I yield."

"Good.  Leave this world and don't come back.  And remember this - if you do come back I'll know about it and what happened to your last world ship at Sol Three will be small fry compared to what will come."

He got up and he and the dead were transmatted away.  Jack saw a hollow in the ground from where her device had lain.  "What was that?" asked Jack.

"A little surprise," she said.  "At dawn, real dawn, you'll see."

* * * * * * *

  
Dark Noon didn't pass as normal.  The tribes noticed this right away.  The blue star that had always cooked them four hours before the red sun didn't make its normal dawn.  It wasn't until nearly four hours later when the red sun rose as normal and, in the distance, the blue one was seen.  A normal binary star with a normal day night cycle.

The Doctor looked up, shading her eyes as she did so.  Hagath and the other tribal leaders looked up in shock, holding their hands up to the much cooler, and later, dawn than normal.  Hagath came over to her.  "Two miracles in one day, Doctor, truly your people are as powerful as my great-grandfather said.  What will happen now?"

"The world as your great-grandfather remembered will come to pass once again.  You will no longer be plagued by the Bright Night, but instead now you will have a normal night and a normal day.  Your world will be cooler, and flourish once again.  Just do me a favour, Hagath," she looked past him to the women of the tribes.

"It will be as you ask," said Hagath.  "This world will always remember the Last of the Lords of Time, the Doctor, and her Companions who performed not one but two miracles in one day."

"I was going to say don't make me into some god, Hagath.  I am mortal, like you, just further along in technology.  Further than even the Sycorax, but no god," she answered, patting him on the shoulder.  "I just try to help where I can."

"And help you do," he said.  "A god you may not be, but certainly one of his Chosen.  From this day forward we will call this day the Solstice, or when the Sun learned to rest."

* * * * * * * *

  
The three beasts arrived at the blue Police Box as dusk fell.  The Doctor unlocked the door and Jack and Ianto waved good bye to Reinna and Hagath.

The two Cengei watched as the TARDIS dematerialized in a small windstorm.

Inside the TARDIS she looked around the repaired console room.  It looked more like how Jack remembered it.  He guessed the coral struts and glass was more or less a default setting, one that was fresh after a repair.  The secondary library was still there and it was still much larger than the coral console room he remembered, but it was another change.

"Well, she'll be like this until I redecorate again," pointed out the Doctor.

Then she noticed the decorated tree and boxes under it.  "Well, that was unexpected," she finished.

Jack grinned.  "Merry Christmas, I take it?"

"It would appear so," she smiled as she pulled in Ianto as well.  "Well then.  How about a proper holiday then?"

"Is that actually possible?" came Ianto's voice from the interior.


	8. Shogun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and her companions find themselves on a future world in a far off location where the locals have modeled their society on feudal Japan, and they believe the Doctor is here to free them from the tyrannical rule of a Regent controlling a Child-Emperor - by making the Doctor the Shogun instead!

The room was serene and quiet and sparse in furniture.  It wasn't that it was empty, far from it.  The impression it gave was that it was exactly as it should be.  The culture that this room was based prided itself on using the bare necessities and making those beautiful; minimalistic yet elegant in design and layout, sparse but yet rich in choice of materials.

Plain paper panels held by deep cherry red polished wood, sanded and then lacquered until shiny and silky comprised the walls and sliding doors.  The floor was the same wood, and it was sanded and lacquered the same as the door panels, and over those floors, to both protect and pad them were thin, but well woven into find panels, pads of grass, their edges sewn in white silk instead of linen or cotton.

An alcove in the wall held a beautifully and well cared for bonsai tree, trimmed and trained to look like a miniature of its parent outside in the garden, and as natural.  Behind that bonsai huge a wall scroll painted in the distinctive wood block style, the scene one of a house on a cliff, overlooking a beautiful and old city.

The panels to the garden were open and framed the tended garden in the courtyard of the townhouse.

Everything was peaceful.

It didn't last.

A wind storm began in the peaceful room and the servants and maids watched in terror as the windstorm, which, to them, came from nowhere sparked.  A blue box with strange lettering faded into view while making a strange wheezing groaning sound that came and went in waves, like the freak wind that preceded it.  And then, the light stopped flashing and the wind died.  Silence returned.

Except for a few leaves blown around, nothing, not even the scroll in the alcove nor, thankfully, the lord's precious bonsai, appeared to had been disturbed.

That silence lasted for a few seconds as running feet and shouts were heard.  The servants had alerted the guards and they were, and quite right too, coming to defend their house and their lord as they surrounded the strange blue box.

One such man, in armour heavier and more expensive than the others, stood among them, his arms crossed while the others held their swords at the ready.  Others held bolt pistols and bolt rifles at the ready.  The lord looked the box up and down as if trying to make up his mind.  In truth, he was trying to remember something determined to be stuck in the back of his mind.  Something to do with... with this.  Something important.

The door opened and three people came out.  The lord felt his eyebrows migrate up in surprise.  One was a woman, a lovely woman, if tiny.  Although to his standards she was right and perfectly sized as the women here were her size.  The two men were larger and obviously not of the same descent as he, but they could have been of hers.

She was no more than five foot tall, and, as he had noticed, tiny.  Her hair was dark brown, not black like other women his planet, her skin pale.  She had hazel eyes and a lovely, well balanced and exotic face.  It was not Asian like the lord was used to, nor the typical of New New York or New Britain.  It was in between and more olive in complexion.

One man seemed like he belonged in New Britain, the protocol and bearing was that obvious and the suit of that cut.  He was too prim, too proper to be anything else.  The other was... not but wore a military coat like armour.

The two groups stared at each for a long time before the woman spoke.  "Hello, sorry, we're a bit lost."

He finally let a bark of laughter.  "You can certainly say that again," he answered.  "Now, who are you and how did you get in my house?"

For his part, he was fairly certain she had recognized him for the samurai he was, and likely knew somehow that she was - again, somehow - intruding in his home on New Japan.  And he was determined to find out how she got here and how she had slipped past all of his guards.

He didn't quite expect the answer, but when he got it he felt like he had been punched in the gut and given a boon... at the same time.  "I am the Doctor, this is my ship, called the TARDIS, and these are my Companions; Jack and Ianto."

At this all the samurai moved back, almost reverently.  The daimyo did as well and he bowed from the hip, a quick bow.  The other samurai, at this had dropped to their knees and bowed low, their foreheads on the floor before getting back up.  Weapons were immediately sheathed, although they remained at the ready.  If the Doctor was surprised, she didn't choose to show it.  The daimyo knew he needed to explain quickly, and so he did.  "Greetings, Doctor, I am Tokugawa Sendo, daimyo of New Kyoto, on the planet of New Japan."

"The planet?" she asked, surprised but a bit relieved.

At least she wouldn't be magically showing up to another people with no concept of technology, particularly space faring technology.  She was getting tired of being mistaken for a God.

He leaned over to another one, and the man stood.  "Forgive me, Doctor," he apologized, then turned to the other man.  "Go find Hide-san, and tell him Code Nine."

She blinked, and then looked at Jack and Ianto.  Jack was stifling a grin, and Ianto was carefully neutral.  "Excuse me, what?" she asked.  "Are... are you UNIT?"

Tokugawa grinned.  "The legend speaks truly of how clever and quick you are.  I am not just the daimyo of New Kyoto but also I am Brigadier General of UNIT on New Japan.  According to us, we have not seen you in thousands of years... it is an honour that your first return after so long was to my home and prefecture, Doctor."

* * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * *

"UNIT?  Truly?" asked the Doctor, then she smiled.  "Fantastic!"

Jack felt a part of him jump at that word and the way she said it.  There were times when she was obviously not her grandfather.  Other times it seemed she channelled him.  Most of those times she was a melding of all his incarnations and all her knowledge.  But sometimes one incarnation or two would stand out and practically shout, "I'm still here."

Today it appeared that it was the Ninth.  For as long as it lasted.  The flash of a Doctor, a certain one, vanished beneath the layers as quickly and as unexpectedly as it had shown itself.  "I must ask, though, how does a daimyo of a Prefecture on New Japan, as you said, become the Brigadier General?" she asked suddenly.  "Or vice versa, however it happened."

Something about the man's name niggled at Jack's mind.  Something familiar but not quite.  Ianto appeared to be having the same issue.  One look at the Doctor told them both she knew who he was and what the significance was.  However, she wasn't very well going to blurt it out while talking to the man.  Tokugawa laughed, a full belly laugh that made him lean back with the force of it.  "The legends speak truly of your ability to talk, to ask questions.  Always questioning," he answered.  "I was born the daimyo, or rather I inherited the title from my mother, but I earned the right to be Brigadier General of UNIT.  You, before you ask - and yes, that's in there as well - are on Mirabalis Six, although we like to call it New Japan, that is it's official designation."

"Well, that explains it," she answered sagely.  "I had intended to come here after all then.  I just didn't know what was on Mirabalis Six... never been here before, you know.  Bit of an explorer and I'm looking for a place that isn't too high up on the trouble scale.  Now, speaking of which... no trouble I should know about?"

"Would you leave if I said yes?" asked Tokugawa.

"Well, no, but it would mean that I've missed out on a relaxing vacation for once."

Again, Tokugawa laughed, as did a few of his men.  "That, too, is in your file.  So far you are exactly as I expected... although not..."

"A woman?" she asked innocently.

"Hrm, I would not have been so blunt, but yes... all records of you state that you're a... well... male.  Unless I am mistaken..."

"You're not," she answered.  "Long story.  Regeneration can be funny."

"Indeed," agreed Tokugawa.  "Not that I have personal experience or anything, but again..."

"You've read up on me!" she exclaimed, genuinely surprised.  "I'm flattered."

"I have read up on a great deal of things," he answered.  "But your file, by far, given how it usually snakes into most of the really old archives anyway, is the most fascinating - the most... compelling.  It is, if I must say, an added bonus to find out that you are female.  I will add that..."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"And I really must insist - duty and all that - to keep the records accurate.  Now, were they all...?"

"No, those which were male still were.  That is correct, which is why I said you didn't have to," she answered.  "There is nothing to correct in the records."

For a long moment Tokugawa was silent.  "Regeneration is certainly unpredictable then."  He left it at that and dropped the subject, and then changed it quickly.  "Now, you said you didn't come because there was trouble?"

"Correct," she answered.

"Then I am truly honoured.  Perhaps you can truly have a break this time, Doctor?"  He offered her his arm and made a motion for his men to stand down.  They did immediately.  Guiding her to another room he continued.  "I will personally see to it that your stay is comfortable and enjoyable.  You will not want for a thing, and if you do I will personally see that it is... taken care of."

Jack had to swallow to keep his response from the obvious come on from Tokugawa.  He saw, from the small sigh and grin that she had had caught it as well.  Ianto stifled a grin.  Jack wasn't sure he was all that amused by it though and that in itself was confusing.  His fifty-first century morality was certainly flexible enough to not mind at all having the Doctor on one arm and Ianto on the other.  Open relationships were the norm, and pairing-off only occurred when children entered the picture, but things were still very much open on the side.

He shouldn't be feeling the stab of jealousy at seeing Tokugawa take a liking to the Doctor.  He really, really shouldn't.  Not when he was, for all intents and purposes "paired off" with Ianto.  Jack knew Ianto wouldn't understand the openness if Jack decided to chase the Doctor... and chase off Tokugawa.  Especially not.  Jack sighed inwardly and then caught Ianto's curious look.  With a smile Jack linked arms with the Welshman and tried to put the not so pleasant mental picture that his over active, and perverse, imagination stewed up of the Doctor and Tokugawa.

Tokugawa led them to a room and a maid slid the door open.  Tokugawa made a motion for Jack and Ianto to enter, but didn't quite release the Doctor.  Jack looked at them curiously and the sick knot had plenty of time to twist itself tighter.  He didn't like this - they were being separated.  "Doctor?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't what he thought.

"The Doctor will be taken to her own rooms," explained Tokugawa.  "Beside mine, and most secure.  You will be beside hers, so in a way we shall both protect her."

"Not that she needs it," retorted Jack lightly, but both Ianto and Tokugawa caught the edge beneath his light tone.

"Gentlemen," the Doctor cut in.  "I am sure I can, as Jack said, take care of myself, but I know a place of honour when I see it.  I am grateful, Tokugawa-sama, for the honour."

The more than flattering honorific was not lost on Tokugawa, and he was cheered greatly by this.  "Then it is to your satisfaction?"

"Indeed, I like being close to my Companions, and to my Host," she soothed him.  "And I am right next to my Companions, no more than a thin, but lovely, paper screen wall between us?"

"Of course, the walls can slide open so all three rooms create one large one, or just two to create a large one, whatever our honoured guest would like," answered Tokugawa.  "Unless I have read things wrong and your Companion... Jack was it?... would like to share your room with you?"

Ianto stiffened and his eyes narrowed, as if he suddenly seen the truth of Jack and the Doctor's relationship - as if it had been right under his nose the entire time and had simply missed it.  He kept himself calm and hid his feelings behind his usual mask.  Underneath he was boiling.  How dare they!  And then invite him along?  For what?  Why?  But the Doctor answered, "Most definitely not - they would prefer to be together."

As if she preferred they were.  Ianto stifled a snort.  All right then.  Jack had a thing for the Doctor but the Doctor would not, or could not, return it.  Jack also liked Ianto, and that suited the Doctor just fine... but he sensed that wasn't altogether true.  There was a lingering look in Jack's direction, but also to his.  Suddenly Ianto understood and felt the anger melt away and a sense of guilt and melancholy settle in.

She wouldn't because she knew it would break Ianto's heart if Jack did, and Jack's if Ianto couldn't handle the thought of them sharing Jack.  So she stepped aside for them, and for him.  While he was grateful to the Time Lord he couldn't imagine being able to do the same for her.  But, in one shared glance between the two he conveyed he understood, and was grateful for that, and she conveyed a different hurt that was also not lost on him.

The Doctor was a widow.

She was just not ready for anything with anyone... it wasn't just Jack or Ianto.  That broke his heart worse.  No one deserved that depth of loneliness.  He could relate.  Losing Lisa not once, but twice, had all but shattered him... and then Autumn disappearing and finding out she had lived centuries and perhaps millennium without him before dying with her race and her planet.

It also made the Doctor family.  Of a sort.  What did that make the Doctor?  Autumn was the original Doctor's mother.  This Doctor, this legacy, was his granddaughter.  Did that make her his step great-granddaughter?  As a human the thought made him dizzy and he let Jack lead him inside the room as the maid again slid the door shut to allow them their privacy.

Once the silence descended - the literally paper-thin walls were surprisingly private - Jack turned to the equally introspective Ianto.  "Not what we expected," said Jack, almost to fill the silence.

"By far not," agreed Ianto.  "Jack, about... you and the Doctor."

"What about 'me and the Doctor'?  There is no me and the Doctor."

"Are you so sure?"

"Ianto... I am with you.  Yes, that means I have to suspend my more liberal upbringing but, I would if that meant not hurting you and being with you," Jack put a hand on the Welshman's face.  "I know how it would hurt you if I was with you... and then with her as well.  And... she would not consider an open relationship either.  There is no sharing in Time Lord culture.  From what I understand - and it isn't much - the Gallifreyans were very uptight and conservative, almost prudes.  She would not entertain it.  Just for a Gallifreyan to consider cross species is incredible - but to be in an open relationship too?  Not fucking likely."

"So..." Ianto mused, catching the hidden meaning.  "You do want a... relationship... with her?"

Jack sucked in a breath, not surprised Ianto had jumped to that conclusion.  "Always did."

"Then why?"

"Because she won't." Jack walked from one end of the room and then back to Ianto, his voice still in the low whisper.  "And, by far you are no piss poor second choice.  I was with you before I ever met her.  But..."

"I was dead - until now - and you did pursue her." Ianto smiled and shook his head.  "You're afraid that I'm upset and betrayed.  I'm not.  I would not... do not... will never want... you to be unhappy.  If I... when I die because we both know you will outlive me.  You and her both will outlive me.  I want you to be happy and if that means being with her and pursuing her... not to the point of stalking of course... but if that means you make each other happy after I am gone then that will make me happy.  When that time comes do not let my memory hold me back.  Just promise me something, Jack."

Jack looked at him, pain clearly written in his face but understanding what Ianto meant.  "Anything."

"Might want to hear what it is first."

"Ianto..."

"If it's a boy, if you're so blessed, name him after me and in that way maybe I will live on with you after all."

"Oh... done and done," answered Jack, a sad smile on his face, and then he put a gentle hand on Ianto's cheek.  "That I would have done anyway.  For you, Owen... Tosh... I was thinking of... but... that would never happen.  That would mean her acceptance."

"Jack..." Ianto shook his head.  "She already has."

* * * * * * *

"She is a beauty, isn't she?" asked a younger woman to an older one, although not by much.

"Exotic, even by our standards.  She looks to be the equivalent of Old Earth's mid-eastern or Hispanic, perhaps a mix of both.  Her hair is not over-long but neither is it over-short, or too masculine.  A bit short for our styles, but it can be hidden under a wig, perhaps it is better," mused the older woman, who appeared to be in charge of running the house filled entirely by women.

"You sound like you intend to bring her here, as one of us, Oneesan," said the younger woman, mildly shocked.  "She wears pants like a man, her hair is short, like a young man's, but styled like those of the ship of New England."

"Okaasan," came the voice of another woman, one not so gifted to be able to call the woman by the honorific of "Elder Sister" but instead had to call her by the proper title of "Mother" of the house.  "I heard she came and appeared from no where in Lord Tokugawa's house, in the middle of a windstorm.  She came with two men who deferred to her - one of the maid's said she was known simply as 'the Doctor'."

"Indeed?" asked the Okaasan, as she stood up, settling the layers of expensive silk around her as she gazed out into the ornate and well kept garden courtyard.

Unlike the house of Tokugawa, everything in this house showed wealth, power, and luxury.  The tatami mats were thick, double layered and lined with soft silk in the darkest of red.  The paper screens were stark white, framed by lacquered cherry wood polished to a jewel-like gleam, as were the wooden floors.  Everyone, except for the maids, wore the long kimono robes in expensive, elegantly (and quite expensive) silk.  The maids wore less ostentatious, but no less clean and crisp, kimono of fine linen in a crisp white and dark red hounds-tooth pattern, the house crest embroidered in red and gold into the back of their yukata (as the linen kimono were called), just under the nape of the neck at the collar.  A tiny, coin sized and shaped crest - one made to look like three golden maple leaves hanging on the branch on a dark red background.

"She would be an excellent addition to our okiya then," decided the Okaasan.

* * * * * * *

"Sire, it is dangerous to have her here," said one of his samurai, a trusted advisor.  "Especially so close."

"It is that she is so close that she will be at her most useful," answered Tokugawa.  "When ever the Doctor has appeared, grave danger and trouble often follows - even when he, or in this case, she, had no idea it was coming.  Even in her leisure trouble followed.  The Doctor is cursed by the Gods, it is said.  Trouble follows like a wake behind a boat in the water.  It is best to choose when that trouble comes and therefore have control over it.  I have a use for one such as she."

"So... she will be the instrument of your rise to Shogun?"

"Indeed."

* * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * *

Jack leaned back, looking out into the interior garden of the estate townhouse of Tokugawa.  Ianto came back in, bowing politely to the maid.  Both of them had been politely pressured to wash and bathe themselves, and to change into the clothing the other men wore.  They were still permitted to keep their other equipment and weapons, and so they organized their wallets and guns into the folds of the kimono they were wearing.  "I can admit these are very comfortable," said Ianto.  "A certain elegance as well."

"If we're wearing this, makes you wonder what the Doctor is wearing," said Jack.  "We're honoured guests, but not so honoured as she is."

A maid slid the door open before entering with a tray.  She then knelt, gracefully slid closed the door, before standing with the trays and bringing it to the two men.  "Tokugawa-sama has assigned me to you as liaison to the rest of the house, as well as translator.  Not everyone speaks Trade Common.  My assignment also includes helping you not embarrass this house or your..."

"Don't call her our Master," came from both Jack and Ianto, although Jack looked more horrified than Ianto.

"Very well, what is she to you?"

"A friend," answered Jack.  "Travelling companion - it's actually kind of difficult to explain.  Yes, the ship is hers but we are there by her invitation.  Sort of as her guests, as well as her aides, companions... sometimes guards... but mostly as friends and company."

Her eyebrows lifted.  "Ah, her entourage.  But not servants.  We have these as well, or at least the Daimyos and Samurai do.  Some of the richer merchants as well... but more personal, more voluntary?"

"Definitely," agreed Ianto.  "More fun as well... if I must say... although she does have a habit of getting into trouble, but also of fixing it where she finds it.  Like her grandfather before her.  Sometimes she seeks it.  As if... as if she now seeks it to fix it and sometimes she has the time to breathe.  I hope this is one of those times."

"We do as well," she answered.  "In this house, Tokugawa is more than home owner.  He is Lord, and our lives are in his hands.  We depend on him as he does on us.  His duty is to always lead the house in its best interests, and then in the greater interest of New Japan.  Our duty is to make sure his duty is possible.  It is symbiotic and necessary.  No one is useless, even in frailty we find a way, even if they have served their duty and it falls to us to allow them their earned rest."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other.  In other words, they were taught to accept their place and not try to get out of it.  Simply accept it, live with it and even learn to love it.  No ambition to change, no desire for anything different.  Jack sighed.  Some worlds, after the destruction of Old Earth, were like that.  They clung to the old ways.  In some ways that was good.  In others, not so much, because they clung to the wrong things.  Things that, by all rights, should have remained forgotten.  Sometimes they mixed it up with bits from history that was not in the right places.

During his training as a Time Agent, he had been taught that was one of the reasons the Agency came to be.  Finding the truth within the history and myth and setting it down for all to see and clearing up the false misconceptions.

It had looked so good on paper but it didn't turn out that way.

Like so many other things.

Ianto saw the change of mood in Jack.  The gloom seemed to descend on the ordinarily, at least outwardly to others, cheerful and positive man.  It seemed to darken around him.  Ianto sighed.  They had much in common in that way.  Both wore their faces like a mask to the world around them.

The door slid open as another maid bowed as a small woman in a rich kimono entered the room without bowing.  She strode to them - as well as the confines of the kimono let her - and sat herself down between them, her legs, unlike the graceful maids and others they had seen, stretched out in front of her as she leaned back on her arms to hold herself upright.

It was only when she was that close to any of them that they recognized the Doctor, now dressed in layers of silk from head to toe, her hair coiled and shaped into graceful, but yet demure, lobes with small hair ornaments set in it.

"And I thought Gallifreyan clothing was restrictive," she said.  "The hair is worse than what we had to wear in Council... without actually having anything on my head!"

Ianto laughed, but Jack was mildly confused, but laughed at her vaguely annoyed expression.  "You look lovely, Doctor," said Ianto graciously.  "The silver and red suits you."

"Yes..." she dragged it out, and then she looked down.  "Oh perfect, it is red."

"What's wrong with red?" asked Jack.

"It's the colour of her Chapter on Gallifrey," answered Ianto.  "If it is any consolation, I don't think they knew, which is why you wear mostly silver."

She stood up, slightly awkwardly, and smoothed it down so it looked as it should.  The maid gave a slight tug on the obi belt and it fell as it should.  With a sigh, she looked at how the other two women were sitting and then sat as they did.  They bowed and she waved it off.  "I insist, at least when not in the presence of other men of your planet, that you not do that to me.  I don't deserve it and it makes me uncomfortable," she said.

The liaison lifted her brows and said, "With respect, Doctor, as I was saying to your friends, I believe this is the reason I was assigned to you.  I am also a guide to protocol."  It was clear in her tone, as well hidden as it was, how much she believed they needed it.  Particularly, the Doctor.  "As well as a liaison to the rest of the house.  I am one of the few here that speaks Trade Common, although I find it curious that it was not necessary, you speak our language with the ease and fluency of one born here."

The Doctor looked at Jack in warning, and he didn't say anything.  Ianto picked up on it as well.  "A translator program.  The device is... not noticeable.  We are speaking Trade Common."  Actually, they weren't, but the Queen's English was the base of Trade Common which also had bits of other languages to the point that it had evolved from English to Trade Common, which in Jack's time was the main language spoken by most humans, so the mild lie was actually reasonably close enough.  "You're hearing Japanese, and when you speak Japanese we hear Trade Common.  Or it stays Trade Common."

Or, rather, the Trade Common was translated into English, if required.  She knew Jack could speak it, so could she.  She wasn't sure if Ianto could or not.

"Oh!" exclaimed the liaison.  "I had wondered.  And your kimono is lovely... I haven't seen it in so long.  It once belonged to Lady Tokugawa."

It wasn't the fact that she was wearing a robe that practically screamed "Rose" that shocked them -it was the wood block scene it portrayed on the kimono, now that they had taken notice.

The Doctor blinked, and looked down at the kimono.  It was a short-sleeve variant, worn by married woman for semi-formal situations.  She supposed that this situation warranted it.  The base colour was silver near the hem, but faded to a more silvery platinum white on the shoulders and upper part of the kimono.  The lining was red silk.  The obi was also red, with silver embroidery of the outlines of roses.

The scene depicted, in beautiful wood block style and using silk screening to achieve was a snowy moonlit garden full of roses and green trees.  In the background was a howling lone silver wolf.

"The Bad Wolf," mused Jack.

"When she scattered the name everywhere, she truly meant it..." said the Doctor.  "But... why here?  If she could truly see all of time and space, she would have known it would be me and not him that would get this message.  What is she trying to tell me?"

"Couldn't tell you, honestly," admitted Jack.  "Leave it for now.  It will likely become obvious later."

The door slid open again and the maids bowed low as Tokugawa entered.  He stopped dead in his tracks, and an unreadable expression crossed his face.  He gained control of it quickly and then walked over to the Doctor.  "I have not seen that kimono grace any woman in years.  You look stunning in it.  I am glad they chose it.  You look like a proper lady should."

"I am glad it meets your approval, but I was under the impression you had chosen it," she answered.  "Like everything else here, we are under your control."

"Yes, while here... under my roof... but I promised you a respite, not to keep you prisoner," said Tokugawa.  "Please tell me I didn't misread your intent on being a guest in my house?"

"Hardly, Tokugawa-san, however, I am used to certain freedoms," she soothed, but there was still an edge of steel underneath.  "I can hardly say I've seen New Japan when I have never left the confines of this house, now can I?"

Tokugawa appeared to think about this, then took her shoulders.  "You are right, Doctor.  Forgive me my presumption.  Can I ask a small favour, a compromise if you will?"

"Well..."

"Please let one of my men go with you, and make sure you take your friends with you."

"Tokugawa-san... I thought you said there was no trouble?"  asked Jack.

At this the man seemed uncomfortable.  "I did say that, didn't I?" he mused.  "There isn't.  Not anything that warrants 'the Doctor', nothing out of the ordinary, I should say.  Just the usual city issues when people are crammed in so close they can barely breathe."

The Doctor rolled her eyes.  He was right on that matter.  It wasn't exactly something she could, or would, interfere with.  If they couldn't sort it on their own her interference was not going to help here.  He was also right that a lone woman would be a rather attractive target, particularly if she appeared foreign or of means.  It was precisely at this moment Tokugawa, again, changed tracks and tactics.  "I have a wonderful idea.  Why not wait until tomorrow and I will personally show you our city.  Anywhere you want to go in it."

The Doctor rolled her eyes to him, and then sighed, lifting her hand in a gesture of resignation.  "But first, tonight... I have planned a banquet in your honour."  He clapped his hands as if this solved everything.  "Yes!  The best of what we have to offer brought here.  Please have patience with us, enjoy what I have, personally, to offer and then take in what others have to offer."

"All right, all right, you've convinced me," she said.

"Wonderful!" he grinned.  "My home is yours until then."

With that he turned and then, slowly he turned back, looking her up and down.  There was an unreadable expression on his face before he took the two steps to stand in front of her.  "You do not fear me, you do not even flinch."

"Should I?" she asked.

"No, but due to my position, and upbringing, most do."

"I do not have that.  And where I am from, I am used to the same."

He lifted his brows.  "Indeed?" he asked, his voice soft and thoughtful.  "Where you are there are families?"

"Houses, Chapters... castes... and duty.  As well as legacy and family.  Nobility and... not as fortunate," she answered.  "Or there was.  Until a war swept it all away."

"Where did you fall into the great scheme of things?" he asked quietly, reaching up to brush away a tear that had escaped her eyes.

"I was a lady... noble born and raised.  I was the eldest of the second born of the leader of our House, but I was the favourite of the Head of our House at the time... my grandfather, actually," she said, smiling.  "He doted on me, helped and took a personal hand in my upbringing.  And then, he showed me the universe, in that same blue Police Box."

"He was the Doctor of our legend."  Tokugawa leaned back, it suddenly falling together in his mind.  "And you are his granddaughter.  And you speak of legacy and duty.  Let me guess, he has passed and now you walk in his footsteps?"

 _Humans are amazing_ , mused the Doctor.  _They latch onto the strangest of things_.  Tokugawa had completely missed the fact that the Time Lords had been swept away but held on to the small fact that she was the granddaughter of a legend... and a noble.  Of sorts.  It was the closest context she had to compare it to for Tokugawa.  Was she a noble?  In his context, then yes.  But, Gallifrey had been far more complex than that and she was oversimplifying things.

That... and that she wasn't the Doctor, not the original.  Yes, she was now but there had been another before her.

"Something like that, only more complicated than that," she admitted, not even sure why she was confiding in him in a room full of other people.  "I also possess his memories, his knowledge.  Everything he was I am now."

"As well as yourself, I suspect," mused Tokugawa, suddenly very, very serious.  "A very heavy burden to carry, the life and duty of not one but two.  I think I have a... mutual understanding.  I too have heavy burdens and something expected of me due to the simple application of a name.  We are very similar, you and I.  Makes one wonder what else we have in common."

Oh no.  So not going there.  She might have known that was his intent, and seemingly it was someone else's as well.  Or else why dress her in his late wife's favourite and most distinctive of kimono?  Whatever line of thought they wanted to happen just had.

She could see the barely disguised look of horror... and something else she couldn't put her finger on... cross Jack's face out of the corner of her eye.  Ianto looked from Jack to the Doctor and back again.  He also had caught the sudden change.

It was as something polarized in the room.  At the same time it felt heated, but there was a perceptible chill at the same time.  Anyone remotely empathic picked up on the sudden warring emotions even if no one moved a muscle.

Jack felt as if someone had punched him in the gut when Tokugawa became far more plain in his intentions towards the Doctor.  All he could think was Oh Hell no, she's... and then it hit him like Chuula war cruiser in the gut before he let himself actually finish the thought... she's mine.  His eyes went wide and although, perhaps in another lifetime, he would have stood and punched Tokugawa for daring think he could move in on what was his.  Part of it was how stunned he was to feel those particular feelings towards the Doctor burst inside him like a dam cascading down a mountainside.

At the same time he realized just how much time had passed between Ianto's death and his return.  While it was so short to the Welshman it was literally years, perhaps decades, for Jack.  He'd lost count.  He still loved him, sure, but not with the same depth as he had.  Those feelings had faded over time as the Doctor had moved into his life.  Now he felt pulled in two directions.

So he didn't move except for the widening of his eyes and a nasty look directed at Tokugawa, although he could tell that she had felt the dam inside burst.  Time Lords were one of the most telepathic species in the universe, and the Doctor was perhaps one of the best of them.  Jack may as well as professed his love for her in the streets with bright neon lights.

Ianto picked up on it.  He wasn't empathic, or telepathic, but he could feel the change in the air.  There was enough visual clues, as well as spoken ones, to clue him into what was changing right in front of him.

He supposed it was partly his fault.  He had told Jack he understood.  In a way, he did.  If not for Autumn he perhaps wouldn't have.  Then again, maybe he might have anyway.  He knew that a long time had passed for Jack, and while Jack had been ecstatic to have him back there had been plenty of changes to his former lover that told him Jack wasn't the same Jack before the incident as he was now.  Quite simply put, too much time had passed and too much had happened, the least of which had been Ianto's own death and Jack having to move past it.

There was no outward signs, but Ianto sighed as he realized what this meant.  He wasn't sure if he could do as he said he would if Jack decided to pursue the Doctor, but... this hurt like hell.  And there was no-where for him to retreat to except maybe the TARDIS.

In barely a breath the moment passed and things almost seemed to return to normal.  Tokugawa was still speaking and then he'd finished.  He also picked up on the change in the air.  Something had changed and from the look on the two other men's faces, as well as the strangely absent one on the face of the Doctor he simply presumed what he wanted - she was honestly thinking of the very strongly hinted idea that she would become his wife and take her place at his side as the new Lady Tokugawa.  And he would gain a Time Lady as a wife.  No one could touch him and he would rise to prominence in New Edo and in the Imperial Court.  Maybe even become Shogun.

And then he remembered something else.

Ah well, that could be to his advantage anyway if he played his cards right.

* * * * * * *

Much to the surprise of the staff in Tokugawa's estate home, Jack and Ianto requested to sleep separately.  It didn't cause too many issues as Tokugawa had plenty of space and he happily saw to it.  He was surprised, to say the least.

As was the Doctor.  And, before the banquet she approached Jack.

They had changed her once again, this time to a kimono that was crimson red on the shoulders and the top of her still short sleeves, but changed to an almost black kimono so dark was the red.  The motif seemed far more happier, almost to fit the mood of the celebration that Tokugawa felt he was throwing.  On the most visible part of the bottom in the dark red was a scene depicting an Imperial court and people playing games.  The same scene was also on the back of her right sleeve.  The rest of the kimono was plain as to not take away from how expensive and fine the silk was.  The lining, naturally, was the same gold colour as the Imperial Court was shown in and a shade darker than the bright gold of her obi belt, which was tied in a simple closed looped drum knot behind her.  There was a simple braided tie around the obi, that he had noticed before, but was still the same black colour as before.  Her hair was the same modest lobed style as earlier in the day, but the ornaments far richer, but still understated and elegant.

"I wish I could say I understood what the different things meant when they are worn," he said by way of filling the silence.  "I have a feeling they mean something."

"They do, and I'm not exactly comfortable with it, but the dressers know their business," she answered.  "Basically, it is telling everyone at the banquet that I am an extremely rich and well-placed noble lady, who is available but has been married before being honourably widowed, possibly with children but that point is rather fuzzy.  Accurate, but far more exhibitionist than I am comfortable."

Jack snorted.  "Listen..."

"Jack, I thought we talked about this..."

"We did."  He took a breath, before sighing it back out again.  "What a mess."

"I heard Ianto 'moved out' of your shared arrangement."

Jack laughed hollowly.  "Yeah.  About that, like I said, listen... I... ah... came to a realization today."

"Sounds rather ominous."

"What changes to your ensemble would have to be made to say you're no longer available?  Not married, but definitely taken.  Betrothed or whatever."

The Doctor's eyes widened in shock and for a long moment she was speechless.  Jack took her shoulders and he looked at her face as it was framed in the exotic clothes and hair.  He remembered her saying it was only slightly less restrictive than Gallifreyan clothing, hair and all.  For a moment he wondered what she would like in the clothes from her home and his imagination supplied something not far off from how she looked now.  He thumbed the fabric and she shivered with something he knew had nothing to do with the cold.  "What are you asking?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

"I came to a realization earlier," he began.  "And... oh God, it took Tokugawa to make me realize it when he started in with how much you and he had in common..."

"Well..."

"Don't tell me..."

"...No, nothing like that," she answered, shaking her head.  "It wouldn't work."

He wasn't sure if she was talking about him or Tokugawa.  He wasn't sure he wanted that answer.  "Listen, I am thoroughly, and completely..."

"Ah, there you are!" came Tokugawa's voice.  "My lady, you look stunning in that.  I will have to send my compliments and sincerest gratitude to the Bekku-san for this.  It is perfect.  Come on then, the banquet is starting and we are without our guest of honour."

Just like that Jack watched his chance slip through his fingers.

* * * * * * *

It took a few minutes for Jack to calm himself to join in the festivities, and he allowed himself to be slipped into the banquet.  The room was full, and, while it wasn't a big room, it wasn't exactly small.  Besides Tokugawa and the Doctor, who were at the apex of the U as the small tables were set perfectly in a U-shape so that the servers could move silkenly up and down to keep things moving.  He and Ianto, to his consternation, were seated on opposite sides of the same U, and slightly down and midway down it.  This put them at least four or five people away from the Doctor, depending on which side each man was on.

Five were of Tokugawa's house, and sat at the very ends of Tokugawa's side of the U and to Ianto's right, Jack's left and on the opposite side.  To Jack's right was five others who were dressed like the samurai of Tokugawa's house, but clearly were not.  These ones wore grey, and judging by the man to Jack's left and on the Doctor's right as Tokugawa was on her left, they were of that samurai's house.  Filling in the gaps were other samurai and nobles of different houses, ranking close enough to sit close to Tokugawa, but not enough to have their samurai or entourage included in the banquet.  At least not to eat with tables.  They were included, but seemed to only eat small fruit or drink lightly of the sake that flowed freely otherwise.  They sat behind their lords.  He also noticed some of Tokugawa's samurai and the other lord's samurai also sat their seconds.

It would have been very crowded, if not for the open space.

Geisha filled in these other holes, dancing and social women who flitted like butterflies between everyone while everyone was eating.  Jack was pleased to note that one seemed to take to Ianto and this relaxed the Welshman somewhat when something common was found between them.  He didn't quite smile at the teasing of the young girl, but he almost did a few times.

Compared to the Doctor's understated and rich layered kimono, these looked like dolls.  Not quite like queens, but definitely delicate dolls trained to entertain in dance, music and conversation.  One, not a young one with the long flowing sleeves that looked like they should be tripping her like who Ianto had by him, but one with short sleeves like the Doctor placed herself beside Jack.  "My younger sister is taken by your friend," she said with a smile.  "I thought I would make sure that you were not forgotten.  My name is Kanoyumi and that is my apprentice Kanosayo."

"They are lovely names," said Jack absently, looking again at the Doctor.

"Might I ask yours?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," he grinned, trying to put his usual radiance in it, but his heart wasn't in it.

She was silent for a moment as if she was committing it to memory, and he caught the glance back up at the head of the tables.  "She is very lovely, and very fortunate," said Kanoyumi, then she smiled as she picked up the sake bottle, tested it and made a face by wrinkling her nose without disturbing her white make-up.  "Ai, this has grown cold.  I will send for it to be filled freshly and warmed better."

Jack lifted a brow, and turned fully to her.  "Thank you."

She made a small half bow, not like the full ones like the maids.  It was more an inclination of her head and done so gracefully that the ornaments in her hair were barely disturbed.  "Think nothing of it, you are an honoured guest here tonight, Captain."  She made a small fist and tapped the wooden edge paper screen behind them with it, then made a face that clearly said she had made a faux pas.  "Forgive me, that was rather ungraceful of me.  It's a bad habit."

"I won't say anything," he grinned, this time genuinely amused.

The screen slid open as she passed it to the maid.  "Bring the Captain some fresh, and properly warmed, sake.  Out of my personal stock, if you will, Kotomi-san."

"Yes, Kanoyumi-sama," said the maid as she took the flask before sliding the paper screen closed again.

Jack watched this in silence.  Kanoyumi appeared somewhat commanding and sure of herself, but she was not much older than eighteen, perhaps twenty.  She also appeared to be well known.

This was confirmed when Tokugawa laid eyes on her, and his face lit up.  "Kano-sama!  I thought I saw your little sister here and I thought... couldn't be... you wouldn't abandon such an old friend!"

"Ai!  Of course I haven't forgotten you Tokugawa-sama... but I had to make sure the Captain was not forgotten either and you have the Lady and Hinagiku with you so I thought I would personally see to your honoured guests!" she exclaimed back, winking at Jack as she did so.

Tokugawa feigned hurt and then waved her off with a similar wink.  "Fine then!  See to your new Captain.  Send one of your little sisters to me instead!"

When that settled down, she grinned at Jack.  "Now, where were we?"

Jack laughed, seeing why geisha were so popular at a party.  They were not the shy, retiring types like the maids, nor even the lady wives he had seen of the other samurai.  They were, while graceful and polite, far more outspoken and this seemed to be expected of them.  It was a refreshing change from the maids.

Perhaps it was the sake, but he found himself saying so, and it was rather ill-timed considering the lull in conversation.  Everything seemed to silence, the o-hashi freezing midway from dishes to mouths, some already in their owner's mouths, as everyone looked at them in shock.  For a long torturous moment everything was so silent that he could have heard the proverbial pin drop.  The other men looked nervously to the head of the banquet, as did Jack, in silent but well-hidden fear.

Tokugawa sat, stunned into silence, staring incredulously at Jack.  Ianto looked horrified.

Even the Doctor winced.

And then it all changed as Tokugawa, in the spirit of things, decided to take it lightly and laughed, deep from the belly, pounding on the floor as tears of mirth came from his eyes.  "Oh, my stars," he said as he gained some control, only to lose it again.  "My dear Doctor, your companion has a distinct sense of timing when it comes to social norms."

"He does, doesn't he?" asked the Doctor, almost uncertain of how this was going, but she almost seemed to be gauging how quickly she could run to the TARDIS, as well as giving distinct hints to Ianto and Jack to think about the same.  "I hope this doesn't, ah..."

"Oh, hardly!" laughed Tokugawa.  "That was the best entertainment all night.  A refreshing change from the maids, indeed... my good Captain, I quite agree.  These enchanting butterflies of the night are so refreshing, are they not.  But do not let them trick you... they go from butterflies to vicious hawks in barely a bat of an eyelash."

"Tokugawa-sama!" exclaimed Kanoyumi, mock scandalized, then she turned to Jack, a delicate index finger on his chin.  "Do not let our Daimyo bother you.  He is all bark and no bite, that one... well... unless you ask..."

"Gah!  Kano-san!" Tokugawa's eyes widened.  "And you call me scandalous!  See what I mean... no delicate butterfly is she!"

Jack smiled, relaxing a bit, but he saw the others visibly relax.  Obviously, Tokugawa could have gone the other way, and they had seen him do it.  He was thankful that the daimyo didn't.

Everything went back to normal, and the rest of the meal finished without incident.  At this point, the tables were cleared away, and a few of them even taken away.  What tables remained were shared among them, and Jack found himself moved back a few inches.  No one quite leaned on a wall, but those who had not been formally part of the banquet joined them in the informal part as the geisha got up to dance.  The tables were used to hold cups and sake containers, as some of the geisha remained seated while a few of the others got up to dance to another playing a three stringed cross between a guitar and a banjo that sounded like neither called a shamisen, as explained by Kanoyumi.  "I know it isn't what you are used to, I am told neither is our style of music or singing."

"It's lovely, it really is.  It's different, but lovely," answered Jack.  "It's a good break from our usual."

Moments later, the screen from the hallway was opened.  The geisha finished up their dance, and bowed low.  Kanoyumi, also, gracefully, bowed low.  No one else did.

When she entered Jack suddenly understood why.

She didn't enter immediately, but he could see there was two maids, one on each side of the door, and the matron of of the house, the chief maid and chamberlain, bowed from the hip, standing while the maids were on their knees.  Two small girls entered first, their arms held in front of them above the knot of their obi, which, unlike the geisha, the maids, ladies of the samurai, or the Doctor, these were tied in front.  Their bangs were also cut straight above their brow to cover their foreheads and the remainder of their hair in a stylized knot on top.  Their kimono was plain crimson red, like blood, but he could tell by the way it moved that it was the finest of silks.  These little girls moved to the side immediately and sat down, on their knees, like the others.

But they did not kneel.  It was at this point that she entered.  Jack felt his mouth go dry at the sight of her.

No one's kimono had anything on hers.  It was crimson lined, of the same crimson as the little girls, but heavily embroidered on top of that in gold and silken threads, in the pattern of a very intricate still life of a banquet scene below the obi belt, which, like the girls, was tied in front.  Only hers was heavy brocade and tied in a complicated knot.  It was at this point he realized she was wearing layer on layer of kimono, more so than the geisha or the Doctor, each layer a different colour.

If that didn't say there was something different about this woman, then her hair and its many expensive ornaments did.  It defied description, but the lobes were complex and made to stand up.  It was lovely, if ostentatious.  For a long moment, he wondered if this was the wife of the daimyo, so much like a queen in arrogance and stature, as well as the way the others treated her.  He looked her up and then down at the delicate, clean feet with her neatly trimmed and pedicured toenails were painted a lovely shade of pink.

He blinked, looking around.  Everyone, including himself, Ianto... the geisha and the samurai, even the Doctor, had been made to wear these white fitted socks with the big toe separate.  Her feet were bare, but too clean, like they lived in the same socks.

She stood there, and inclined her head in a sigh, before she turned to notice Tokugawa.  "Ah, Tokugawa-san, I am sorry I could not make it earlier.  I was otherwise engaged."

"Ichikaede-san, as usual you know how to make an entrance," said Tokugawa evenly, but he was not displeased, sounding like he was more respectful and cautious of her temperament as the others were of his.

Jack was very certain at this point that she was someone's wife.  She had to be.  And a very well placed one.  He was never more shocked, which the music started again once she had seated herself at the empty space beside Tokugawa on the other side from the Doctor, that Kanoyumi leaned over and explained, "That is Ichikaede, the tayuu of new Edo."

"Tayuu?" asked Jack.

"First class courtesan.  Only the highest ranking, and richest of men, can afford her brand of company," finished Kanoyumi.

Oh.  Well, then.  That was certainly different.  He took a gulp of sake to hide his shock.  Certainly no one's wife then.  "She is treated like a queen," he observed.

"In many ways, she is," said Kanoyumi.  "Although I don't envy her station in life.  The oiran must learn dance, music and the art of entertainment like us, but obviously it isn't their main way of making money for their okiya.  There can only be one tayuu in an entire district, and then each one vies for greater position among themselves to be ranked as First Class.  She is a queen, of oiran and tayuu.  The oiran are the rank below them.  Still quite expensive and only available to very rich men.  It's rumoured that if you don't make it as a geisha you end up as one of them."

"Do you believe that?"

"Hardly - those who don't make it as geisha go home to their mothers or marry a nice man in the countryside or in the city and live their lives as ordinary wives to ordinary men.  Oiran are chosen the same way as geisha, only with the added perquisite being perfection in form as well."

"And those who don't make as one of them?"

"The same - they do not make it to their mizuage and are therefore still quite untouched in body, if not in mind.  It is not something we like to talk about however," she answered before waving to Ichikaede.  "I like Ichi-sama.  She is... for all her appearances... easily approached by us geisha.  The others don't usually give us the time of day and put on airs like they are better than us.  But not her - she knows that without the teamwork between our two castes a banquet is doomed to failure."

Jack grinned and he looked over to Ichikaede.  She was a stunning woman, of that he was sure, even if the kimono and hair, as well as the white make-up hid most of her features.  There was something about her eyes that danced with amusement, mischief and a bit of kindness.  From across the room he found himself warming to her.  "She's good isn't she?" asked Kanoyumi.  "She has the gift of making a man think she has eyes only for him, even in a room full of men.  That is why she is the First Class Tayuu."

"Does she?"

"Actually, as I said, she is quite kind and friendly, so yes, she could be looking at you with a friendly eye.  She's like that too."  Kanoyumi laughed.  "You, she would eat up like a dessert, though.  So exotic."

Kanoyumi leaned against him and batted her eyelashes.  Jack looked over to Ianto who seemed to be having the same degree of amusement.  He suddenly came to the conclusion that the universe needed more geisha.

He was just relaxing into the atmosphere when things went downhill.

Of all the things everyone expected to happen to ruin the banquet, it was not what actually happened.  What the Doctor expected was for the seemingly increasingly unstable Tokugawa to explode emotionally into a temper, but that wasn't it.

A man was laughing, one of the samurai of Tokugawa's own house, when he stopped, grasped at his throat and started choking, blood flowing from between his fingers.  The lanterns were suddenly stamped out, and someone screamed, but the scream cut off in a sigh and a thump.  It sounded like it came from where Jack had been sitting, but was much too feminine to be Jack.

The samurai shouted, and stood, swords unsheathed and bolt pistols brought out, but in the dark there was nothing to be seen to be counter attacked.  Thankfully, Time Lord eyes held the advantage of being able to see where humans could not.  There was just enough light for the Doctor's night vision to take over when she quickly blinked to get her eyes to adjust.

What she saw was out of a movie.  "You've got to be kidding me..."

One of the ninja came to the head of the table, and there was a short scuffle as Tokugawa rose to defend her, but he was overpowered by three opponents in the dark.  The Doctor was about to shout for Jack when two others grabbed her and dragged her away.  She fought them off, kicking out and breaking one's leg.  He went down with a cry of pain.  Her left fist took another in the eye, stunning him and causing him to stumble back.  Now that she was in the hall, light streamed into the room.  She quickly kicked the paper screens down and into the hall so that Tokugawa's people could see their attackers and take away the advantage of darkness.

Three others moved in on her, pinning her arms around her back as another wrapped a cloth around her face, and then threw a loosely woven bag over her head, tying it securely.  She let her respiratory bypass kick in and continued to find, now a little bit blindly.  Stupid apes!  As if they thought something, whatever was on that cloth, would affect her.  Then again, they would have no idea that she wasn't exactly human and so were operating on the assumption that she was, using tactics that would have incapacitated a human but were not effective on a member of her species.

Granted, not being able to see was a bit of a setback.

However, it didn't do anything to dull her hearing, and she could hear their rough breathing to place them.  "Dammit, she fights like one of us!" exclaimed one ninja to another.  "Hold her down, we'll have to tie her hands and legs, perhaps even her knees and wrap her in a blanket to prevent causing more harm."

"What about the chloroform?  She must have to fall to its effects sometime?" asked another, quite unsettled by the fact that she was still full of fight, minutes past when she should have been quite unconscious.

More arrived to help hold her down, despite the pitched fight from within, and undoubtedly it had alerted the entire house.  She could hear running that indicated that fact.  The lead ninja had already tied her feet and legs, and another had managed to tie her hands behind her back, and then secure her arms to her body so all she could do was wriggle like an earthworm on the ground.  She felt herself being rolled onto something, then rolled into it as she was indeed wrapped in a blanket.  And then that was tied.

Resigned, and her respiratory bypass running out, she started breathing normally again.  Her vision swam and black spots expanded in her vision as sound washed out.  Moments later she was limp and unresponsive, drugged into sleep and being taken by the ninja.

* * * * * *

Jack came to with a gasping breath, realizing that once again, he'd died.  Ianto was kneeling over him, and helped him to a sitting position.  The apprentice geisha, the one that had been sitting with Ianto most of the night was crying, her white make-up running with tear trails down her cheeks.  Jack looked down into the empty and dead eyes of Kanoyumi.

For a long moment he was speechless in shock and horror, and more than a little bit of grief at her loss.  He squeezed her apprentice's shoulder in silent consolation, knowing that in the short time he knew her he couldn't possibly feel the same amount of pain as Kanosayo did, but he did feel like a part of him had been ripped out.

Tokugawa came over and lifted up Kanoyumi gently, as one would a sleeping child, and held her to his chest.  "Oh, Kano-sama..."

Ichikaede came over, not even bothering to fix her now dishevelled hair or make-up.  "She was a queen among the geisha, and even us tayuu considered her very graceful, almost as one of our own.  She will be missed."

"I will see that she has a proper burial," vowed Tokugawa as he carried her out of the room and to another, laying her down reverently before returning.  "Anyone else hurt?"

"Just the man with her, but he appears all right now," said Kanosayo.  "And the poor samurai of your house... the first one killed..."

Kanosayo broke down again.  "Get the poor girl some fresh sake to calm her nerves, perhaps with a little poppy in it."

"Oh no, Ichikaede-sama, I am too young for sake," Kanosayo answered, sniffing.  "I am all right now, please do not bother yourself."

"Nonsense, girl, she was your oneesan," said Tokugawa firmly.  "However, perhaps she would feel less anxious with a simple chamomile and jasmine tea.  From my personal stores - helps me every night and no worries about being underage."

"My lord is most kind," said Kanosayo.

"Come on then," Tokugawa pulled her gently to her feet and then to a waiting maid.  "See that she gets it and gets home safely as well.  Take Aihara and Kyoko."

"Yes, my lord," answered the maid, with a bow, as she led the girl away.

Ianto watched the proceedings as well, and then Tokugawa turned to them.  "I would suggest you also retire for the night.  We will pick up the trail in the morning.  It's folly to go after them at night but against the samurai in the daylight they are but nothing.  She will be found.  Go to your rest with that.  I know you were wounded, I saw the blood and don't tell me it was all Kanoyumi's.  And I can see the same grief in your heart, Captain, as I feel over her loss.  I will send the same tea to your room and guards to protect you."

There was no mistaking the dismissal, and both Jack and Ianto bowed and left, heading for their rooms.  Ianto looked at Jack and quietly said, "Samurai... geisha... and ninja.  This is like a cliche."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * *

Sunlight filtered in from windows set high and near to the ceiling of the room.  The dust in the air made it look like shafts with definite lines.  The woman was dressed in a red kimono, the katsura wig set on a proper storage frame, the ornament undisturbed.  She had mid length short hair, cut in a modern Earth style.

Slowly she stirred and then sat up and looked around.  The Doctor swore eloquently in Gallifreyan before rolling over, kneeling and then standing up and smoothing out the kimono she wore in an attempt to look more presentable.  She made a sardonic snort and a gesture with her arms that clearly meant, _Why am I bothering?_

The Doctor looked around, and felt for her sonic screwdriver, realizing, moments later, that everything was made of wood and ironically sonic screwdrivers didn't work on non-mechanical or non-electrical devices.  Eventually, she imagined she could resonate her way out of here but to what end?  The wood was stout and sturdy, and that could take hours, maybe even days.  However, she was still reassured by its presence and she gave it a pat where it rested in the folds of the tightly wrapped obi which, incredibly, hadn't shifted.  Given the fact that the sun was high in the sky she had a feeling she had been out for a few hours.  Her time sense confirmed it.

Seven hours, fifty two minutes and seventeen seconds by Earth reckoning.

She had no idea if anyone had been taken with her, and even had there been there was no sign of them now.

She wandered around, getting a feel for where she was.  It was dusty, but not the same kind of dust that would accrue over years.  It was the kind that meant whomever owned the storeroom didn't come here on a day to day basis.  The Doctor poked her nose into a few of the packages, and found mostly things like kimono, the occasional book, items that served no use on a day to day basis, but were still necessary.

There was the sound of something being moved off the double doors near the front and the Doctor moved to the centre, easily seen.  There was no point in hiding.  These ninja had already proved they could over power her and, quite frankly, there was nowhere for her to go or hide.  The doors opened and a group of men, now dressed in normal day to day wear, albeit Edo-era Japanese day to day wear, and well made... no poor peasantry here, clearly... although of well woven linen or cotton moved around the room, encircling her.  A small woman led the way in, and she too was dressed the same as them.

The Doctor tried to place her, sure she had seen her somewhere... recently.

"Greetings, Doctor," she said with a low bow.  "I am sorry about the shameful arrangements."

Ah.  The Tayuu from last night.  The one favoured by Tokugawa.

Of course, now she remembered.  And even some of his men.  "He works quickly, that is certain," smiled the Doctor.  "Thank you for getting me out of here.  Where is here, anyway?"

They looked from one to the other.  The Doctor suddenly got the feeling she might have misread the situation.  "It was an equal trade," started the Tayuu.  "Tokugawa will have the full support of our clan, and in return you will work for us."

"Ah, I see... the oiran of your okiya are all ninja, aren't they?" said the Doctor.  "I must be quite the prize, then.  I'm sorry, I have no interest in being a ninja."

"Again, you misunderstand the situation.  If you wish to understand, I suggest you listen."

The words were polite, but clipped and cold.  The Doctor's eyes widened and her eyebrows lifted.  "What?"

"You will be one of my oiran, and you will breathe no word of the ninja within it.  Not all are ninja, but those who are not and did not make that cut at an early age know that their support is required - and to keep their mouths shut or we will shut them for them," answered the Tayuu.  "And you will now call me Okaasan, as I am the Mother of this house and it's greatest Tayuu."

"That's quite the role," admitted the Doctor.  "As I remember it, the Okaasan of an okiya, whether an oiran or geisha one, was a retired oiran or geisha... not an active one.  How do you balance the triple role of ninja clan leader, oiran okaasan and an active tayuu?"

"You are in no position to question."  She paced the entry way.  "You are now a member of this okiya.  Whether it be as maid, oiran or some other role, you now answer to me and your older sisters.  Just so we are clear."

"And just so we are clear, what if I refuse to play ball?" asked the Doctor.

"Then you can stay in the this storage room.  You now belong here, you know our secrets..."

"Blah blah, I know too much, can't be allowed to leave, and no, promising not to say anything and keep your secret doesn't help... because you said something about an arrangement... like I was 'payment' for something.  A bargaining chip.  You've invested too much in me turning out the way you want, or, invested too much for me not to be of use."  The Doctor matched the Tayuu's pacing.  "Am I right?"

The Tayuu stopped pacing and her eyes thinned.

"And, like I said, what if I refuse to play ball and tell you all to go to Hell?  What then?"

"You will stay here regardless, Legend.  Caged in a not so gilded cage."  The Tayuu motioned around.  "Given the alternative, am I to understand that you will not cooperate?"

"That exactly what it means.."

"Too bad.  You've a lovely face and are graceful of motion, and well trained... despite the last few moments... in social arts.  Our clients would pay highly for that."  The Tayuu made a dismissive motion with her hand.

"Go to Hell, Ichikaede.  I'm the Doctor, a Time Lord, and if the one thing I have plenty of it's time."

Ichikaede lifted a brow and looked at the samurai, but one merely shrugged.  "On this world nothing is given for free. Your arrival here placed you in the debt of Tokugawa - he merely traded that debt to me for my services.  If Tokugawa loses out on the short end of the bargain, that is his loss."

The samurai bristled at this and she looked them in the eye.  "Now, had he told me he could have negotiated for better, but that is not my problem."  She looked at the Doctor.  "She is."

"I could care less at the moment.  If he had made his true intentions clear, or cleared up that cultural faux pas I could have personally cleared it up, but I get the feeling he had no interest in that," mused the Doctor.  "However, my answer remains the same.  No."

"Well, that isn't going to happen," stated Ichikaede.  "Fine then, see it your way.  I will return with my own people to see if you have changed your mind, but, until then the doors will remain barred and this will be your home, Doctor."

The men and Ichikaede left again, the doors closed and the Doctor heard the bar fall home again.

* * * * * * *

Ichikaede didn't come back that day, or the next.  Food was brought to the Doctor, every meal time, as was fresh water and a privy pot, as was a fresh, clean cotton robe and a futon to sleep on.  Obviously, while she wouldn't be allowed to leave, she was not going to be treated badly.  The nights were cool, and she spent them trying to find a weak point to resonate that was also unnoticeable.  She had even tried to climb to the windows, only to realize that the wicker crates were not meant to support the weight of a fully grown person.

Thankfully this incarnation had better ankles than her last and the resulting fall had only hurt her pride and nothing else.

On the third night, she dozed off for five hours or so.  Even Time Lords had their limits, and given that she was not in any immediate danger the Doctor decided a bit of rest couldn't hurt and fell asleep on her futon, wrapped warmly in the quilts she had been given.

Finally, on the fourth day, the doors were unbarred.  Ichikaede stood there with a few other women, what appeared to be other oiran and maids.  The maids swept in and cleaned the area, replaced the tatami with fresh ones and took her futon, replacing it with another fresh one and fresh, clean quilts.  Another maid came over with a wash basin and the doors closed, only this time they were kept unbarred.  The Doctor presumed it was for privacy for the bath she was about to receive.

"Since you already know my name is Ichikaede, I see no purpose in re-introducing myself.  And you have already told me you are the Doctor, although, that is not truly a name, I will accept it as one for now."  Ichikaede started as she sat at the edge of the tatami opposite the Doctor as she herself was taken just off it and stripped, then bathed, before being dressed again in the cotton kimono.  "That is a yukata, naught more than a bathrobe, but it is clean and presentable for going to the bath after lunch, which you will share with me.  If you are cooperative, I may consider allowing you to leave this prison during the day and walk about in our garden."

"The true mark of civilization is how it treats its prisoners," stated the Doctor.  "You've kept me reasonably well.  I'll cooperate as far as that in return."

"Wasn't always true, and unfortunately, in many places, we have slid back into barbarism and inhumane methods of imprisonment."

"Oh," said the Doctor, a bit shocked and not quite sure what to say in return.

"Much of this has been brought about by Tokugawa, those he supports and those who support him," answered Ichikaede.  "It is distasteful, but I do not currently have the power to fix it."

The Doctor, now dressed and cleaned up sat across from Ichikaede.  "That speaks better for you that it does disturb you."

"Hrm, yes, but that in itself presents a problem," Ichikaede sighed.  "You were traded to me for my support.  However, I find myself in the untenable position of not being able to use you for the purpose I first wished to use you for and there are those who look upon what I would have with jealously.  They would not be so kind as I as to wait for your willing cooperation to their aims.  If I was a cruel woman, I would trade you to one of those people for someone more pliant."

"But you're not cruel."

"No, but I am pragmatic.  I can only wait so long before you become a drain on my resources and I will be forced to do something I'd rather not... and that would be it.  So you must see my dilemma."  Ichikaede looked at her, as if she was sizing her up once again.  "I cannot keep a bad trade if you continue to refuse me."

"Ichikaede-san," the Doctor started, purposely using the proper term of respect to draw attention that she was at least attempting to be reasonable.  "It goes deeper than simply being upset at suddenly finding myself prisoner and, furthermore, indentured into servitude even if the cage is pretty, it's still a cage.  What you ask is distasteful to my own culture.  The Time Lords had a... taboo... against even speaking the word..."

Ichikaede's eyebrows lifted.  "Are you telling me that your people did...?"

"Well, how else do you get children?  Don't tell me you honestly believed that tripe about Looms?" asked the Doctor.  "Yes, we married.  We had... relations... and we, at least the women, give birth and it's the same for us as other humanoid races.  However, the mere thought of thinking of saying so in polite society was deeply frowned on.  We spoke of it in metaphor and buried the dirty act in euphemism.  Yes, all right, we tinkered with our gene code, but we still had to... well..."

Ichikaede burst out laughing, then immediately sobered as she read between the lines at what the Doctor was trying to say.  "Oh." Her expression turned to one of sympathy.  "I suddenly see why you would find this okiya not to your liking and why you refuse."  Ichikaede sighed then.  "What an untenable situation this is now.  Knowing that makes it even more difficult to find a profitable, and proper, place for you here... however... I cannot send you to the less kind place either."  She caught the Doctor as she was about to interject.  "Nor can I let you go.  I will have to think on this some more.  Until then, so long as you make no attempt to escape, and do not intentionally destroy something of this okiya, and act as a proper guest instead of mere prisoner, I will treat you as a proper guest.  That is the least I can do.  I am sure I will find something you can do that isn't distasteful to you."

"Thank you for that.  I will bide my time then until we can both come to some sort of solution we both can agree on."

"Seeing as we have come to at least some sort of agreement, please join me in our bath.  We are blessed with a hot spring on our premises.  It is quite soothing and I find that it is the best way to get to know someone."

The doors were opened and the Doctor followed Ichikaede out into the open.  The Doctor whistled in appreciation at the size of the estate.  "I am impressed."

"The okiya is not as large as Tokugawa's estate, but we are blessed to have a larger area than his machiya here in New Edo."  Ichikaede led them through the garden to a wooden veranda that they walked along until they reached another part of the house.  "Originally, this planet was settled by humans.  Only around half were Japanese descent, the rest who can say?  However, they were of like mind in that they wanted to create a world reminiscent of Old Earth, specifically Edo-era Japan.  At first, it as an idealistic view of that society with a democracy and the such.  But as the Old Earth saying goes, 'One rotten apple to spoil the bushel' and things changed."

"I have to compliment you on your accurate memory of that anecdote, as well as the correct application."

"Thank you."  Ichikaede continued.  "Like others, yes, we are ninja, we are the few who would see those better days returned and justice to finally be served."

"I get the history, but what is happening now?" asked the Doctor.

"The Emperor died, and he wasn't that old to die.  He left a young daughter who now is Empress, but due her age means now New Japan lies under the rule of a Regent.  At first, this was not so bad.  He was a just, kind and fair Regent with no illusions to his real place.  However, that was not to last." Ichikaede sighed.  "The Regent also died, under very suspicious but next to impossible to prove circumstances and a new, second, Regent came to power, a power-mad and cruel woman by the name of Matsumaira Masao."  Another sigh followed the first.  "Masao was... my sister as an oiran.  A sister okiya, not this one, so not a ninja as far as I know.  Not likely.  Not impossible.  But not likely.  Granted, this is New Edo and the capitol and as all samurai daimyos have representation here it would stand to reason that so, too, do the ninja clans.  It is doubtful though... the clans do not like to encroach on other ninja's territory.  New Edo belongs to this clan."

"This is all very well and good, but this is still only background information.  I mean what is happening now?" asked the Doctor pointedly.

"I suspect that Tokugawa has aims on being like a possible ancestor of his and likely intends on staging a revolution to overthrow Regent Matsumaira - and place himself as Shogun."

The Doctor paused, a distant look on her face.  Ichikaede stopped for a moment, seeing the Doctor's sight pass away from what was immediately surrounding her.  She waited it out.  Moments later the Doctor's attention returned to her.  "Oh... now I see why his name was so familiar.  Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Edo Japan.  His shogunate lasted until the Meiji Restoration in the 1800's on Old Earth.  He would see me as his version of Blackthorne... or... he would see Jack as that... either way."

"I do not understand."

"There is an old legend, most of it based in truth, about Tokugawa on Old Earth.  It was immortalized in a novel and mini-series called 'Shogun'.  I think you're onto something - and I think your Tokugawa, being the man of legends as he is, read more into the novel and mini-series than is healthy.  You're very right about your assumptions, I suspect," answered the Doctor.

"I compliment you on your grasp of the situation."

They had reached the bathhouse, and went into it.  After a moment, Ichikaede washed herself in the shower, and so did the Doctor.  There was no sense of bashfulness here.  Finally, they moved to the next part, an enclosed fenced part where a natural pool of water was sunk low into a natural rock formation.  Ichikaede sank into the misting water with a sigh and the Doctor followed with a similar sigh.  There was a mental tickle of a memory of her grandfather once letting himself sink up to the nose, and then past it to let his respiratory bypass kick in while letting the hot water soothe away the stresses of a really long and difficult day.  He'd almost fallen asleep and drowned, but had caught himself in time and propped his head up, and then fallen asleep.  Woken hours later with his skin prune like but the aches and headache gone.

She had no idea where or when that memory had burned itself into his memory.  Sometimes his memories surfaced when there was a specific trigger.  Usually they were nothing more than facts or figures but she could have easily slipped into that and become him.  Literally him, literally felt it as if it had been her own so complete it had been.

The Doctor blinked it away and noticed Ichikaede looking at her strangely.

"Now, we have eaten together and even bathed together, and you have made no attempt to escape or do harm to me," said Ichikaede.  "I must ask once more - will you submit yourself to my house or, Time Lord or no, slip in anonymity as a maid in my house... or a custodian?"

For a long moment the Doctor was silent, and she leaned to look up into the blue sky.  "Not out of any desire to avoid being a maid or custodian, I will help you," answered the Doctor and Ichikaede actually looked startled.  "However, I have one condition.  I will become an oiran if you let me help you in whatever you are planning with Tokugawa.  I hold no illusions that you will train me as a ninja, nor do I desire it."

"A strange thing to ask." Ichikaede appeared to think about it.  "How do I know that once I grant you this additional freedom you simply won't use it to escape?"

"The TARDIS never seems to take me where I'm not needed.  It appears that despite claims to the contrary, I'm needed here and I can't do it without the additional freedom that allowing myself to become an oiran will grant me."  The Doctor looked intensely at Ichikaede.  "And I will give my word as a Time Lord of Gallifrey that I will not run away, unless it be part of the plan and I have that permission."

"I agree then," answered Ichikaede.  "Your training will begin immediately."

The Doctor made a move to get up but Ichikaede motioned her back.  "I thought you said..."

"An oiran never rushes, and part of her charm is her beauty and grace.  We are queens, in many ways, although not in name or actual, official, power.  However, we are pampered, educated and treated as such.  We keep company that only queens would."

"I... see..."

The Doctor relaxed back into the water and sank to her neck, letting herself relax a bit.  She saw Ichikaede's amused look.  "You have much to catch up on. Usually an oiran, even if not meant to be trained as a ninja, starts training as a young girl and is brought to her okiya at no older than eight to ten years old.  I will have to take your training in my personal hands... and we have much to do and very little time to do it in."

* * * * * * *

Jack sat heavily in the vacated room that had been the Doctor's.  It was clear that Tokugawa either didn't really expect to find her, or the rooms were simply temporary in nature.  Owners were transitory, maybe.  It was now Jack's and Ianto now had his old room.

The argument that had been brewing before the Doctor had been kidnapped had evaporated in favour of the suddenly sinking feeling that they weren't going anywhere soon, or ever.  Tokugawa tended to address them like he did his other samurai, and even demanded they join the others in their daily training.

It was actually something they didn't mind as it took their minds off of things.

It also made them realize that despite the ancient look to everything, it was still a colony world of New Earth and the human Empire.  Part of the daily regimen was hand to hand and swordsmanship, but the other part was practice with laser rifles and bolt pistols as well as training in various bits of power armour.

"What war is this man preparing for?" wondered Ianto after a particularly gruelling training session.

Jack shook his head, leaning back on the tatami.  "You think he's even looking for the Doctor?"

Ianto sighed.  "At this point I can't even guess.  Gwen always told me that a missing persons case was most crucial in the first twenty four hours, but he didn't move a muscle until the next morning, and then it was only to send word to the Palace and a few of the other houses.  No searches or anything.  I know this is culturally different, but..."

A month had passed since the night of the banquet.  Every day Jack and Ianto would visit the TARDIS and take refuge in its vast corridors but they could hear the mournful sound the machine made.  Ianto said one day, "She's not dead... the TARDIS would know... but something is keeping her from returning immediately.  As far as she can tell she is not in pain either.  Just... busy... to the point of exhaustion sometimes.  That she has a plan but she cannot, due to distance, say in detail."

Jack looked up at Ianto to where he was looking at the time rotor with a thoughtful look on his face.

That had been last week, and it was five weeks now.

That day Tokugawa swept into the room.  "I have news."

"You found the Doctor?" came from both Ianto and Jack, but they were disappointed by Tokugawa shaking his head in negation.

"No, but perhaps it will lead to her being found.  The Emperor, and Regent Matsumaira, are coming to my home personally as guests in four weeks time.  We have much to prepare for, and since you are also honoured guests, I am especially honoured by this.  And so should you be."  Tokugawa left the room.

Jack and Ianto looked at each other in confusion.

"Somehow I don't think he wants to find the Doctor," said Jack.

"I agree."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * *

Jack shifted for the fiftieth time.  Or at least that is what it felt like to him.  Beside him an equally uncomfortable, but faring far better under the pressure of the formal men's kimono, was Ianto.  A geisha was beside them and she helped smooth them out with a small smile.  With a start, Jack recognized her moments after Ianto grinned wide in pleasure.  "Kanosayo-chan!" he exclaimed softly.

"Ianto-chan, I am so happy to see you doing so well in the house of Tokugawa," she greeted with a small bow.  "Captain-san... a pleasure to meet you under better circumstances."

"She was..." started Jack, and he saw Kanosayo's eyes darken in sadness, but she smiled.

"She would have been very honoured to know you, I am sure.  Yes.  I am quite sure she was honoured to know you, as am I," she said, almost as if reassuring herself and trying to keep herself from crying.  With a sniff and a sigh, she buried it.  "Now... I have been assigned to you as your protocol liaison  A maid would not have suited for such an occasion, and so here I am.  If I am not available, then the other geisha have been briefed in what they need to do and will stick close.  However, the basics are..." She wrinkled her nose prettily.  "You are not permitted to say anything, unless asked through Tokugawa, and then through his own protege, and then vice versa."

Jack sighed and looked at Ianto.  "Protocol."

Ianto smiled his usual small smile.  Jack knew tonight would be torture, for both of them, but Ianto at least had always been good with this sort of thing.

They were left to their own devices, with Kanosayo as company.  They found the time practically flew by.  "I wish you had been here these last few weeks.  You would have been a bright spot."

Kanosayo was startled by the compliment and bowed slightly.  "I am truly happy you think so.  But..."

"Don't... don't compare yourself to her.  You are both unique and, in being so, you honour her taking you as her younger sister," said Jack.  "I only knew her a night and she left a deep impression on me.  You knew her longer, so I cannot imagine how you feel.  But... I think I feel a small part of it."

"Captain-san has been here too long, I think," said Kanosayo to Ianto.  "He is beginning to think and speak like us."

She meant it as a jest, he knew, but something didn't sit well with it.  He still smiled sadly and looked out into the garden.  "But I thank you for your compliment," she said quietly.  "And you're right.  I do... miss her terribly.  She was exactly like a big sister to me.  Kind, gentle, generous and even loving although we weren't blood related."

Jack was startled out of his thoughts by the change in her language from the stilted formal language to something more natural and informal.  He realized she was speaking standard Japanese instead of the more aristocratic and poetic sounding 'Kyoto dialect'.  "When we're together, you, me and Ianto... speak in that instead of the other, please," requested Jack.  "It sounds more..."

"... Sincere..." supplied Ianto.

"Yeah, that," agreed Jack.

"Okay," she said.  "She was good with people.  Not in a manipulative way, but she loved people.  Genuinely, openly... and gave everything of herself when she was at a banquet.  She loved what she did and saw the best in everyone.  If I can do even just a fraction of what she did I may be half the geisha she was."

"I think you've a wonderful start," said Ianto.  "You were certainly warm and kind to me."

"Thanks!" she brightened perceptively, then grew serious.  "Tonight will be difficult but I will try my best to see us through it."

* * * * * * * *

Evening fell and Jack and Ianto were led to the banquet room, which had been opened to the hall and the hall even opened to expand it larger and include the view of the garden.  It was like the entire floor had been opened to create one gigantic room.  Sitting near the garden was a woman, dressed like the tayuu they had seen at the first banquet, only her obi was at the back and she also wore the same white tabi socks as everyone else.  Her kimono also was likely more expensive and seemed to glisten with gold, her hair ornaments also equally expensive.  Unlike the geisha, or the tayuu, her face was left plain instead of painted white.

Kanosayo leaned over as Jack and Ianto were led to sit close to the back, but still as part of the tables.  "That is Regent Matsumaira Masao.  The child on the other side of the table from her is the Empress of New Japan."

Jack and Ianto blinked.  The little girl, who was dressed just as ostentatiously as the Regent, only in imperial red.  Gold dragons were pressed into her kimono in what seemed to be real gold threads and jewels.  Her hair hung loose but combed straight but for two twin barrettes made of gold and carved into dragons, their eyes rubies.  She sat straight on a low back stool while the Regent sat on a brocade pillow, framed by the garden and the opening.  It was a breathless tableau, meant to impress and it didn't fail at its purpose.

Five feet back from Her Imperial Majesty, and to her right sat Tokugawa.  On her left and opposite Tokugawa sat the actual daimyo of New Edo.  She was a severe woman, dressed in the formal attire of a samurai but also in armour.  She kept looking at Tokugawa and her glances were sharp and hateful.  From the return glances, Jack figured that the feeling was mutual.  He heard Kanosayo gasp beside him, and she moved them to look at the end of the tables, across from Jack and Ianto.

A familiar, but beautiful, woman sat across from them in full formal kimono, her feet bare.  Her face was unpainted and her hair shaped into simple lobes, although the intricate ornaments in her hair belied her simple look.  That... and her bare feet.  "I cannot believe it... Ichikaede swore she would never retire until she found a suitable replacement as the Tayuu of New Edo... and then only if she came from her own okiya..."

"But, I take it by the fact that that woman must be Ichikaede, that she has?" asked Ianto in an equally near silent whisper and saw Kanosayo nod.

"Her name will now only be Kazuko Mikana, Okaasan of the Kazuko Okiya for Oiran.  I wonder who succeeded her?" mused Kanosayo.  "But what a night for her to retire and introduce her replacement!"

The banquet was in full swing, and the food was more elegant and complex in presentation than for their banquet.  Not that Jack was surprised, or jealous.  They didn't exactly rank the title of Empress and Regent on this world.

He was almost relieved when the flow of food ended and only drinks and light snacks took their place.  With half an ear he listened to the conversation around him.  Finally, the Empress said something and it was filtered down.  Jack felt himself nudged by Ianto and Kanosayo.  He turned to the child and bowed.  "Captain-san, the Empress has noticed your distraction.  Is her banquet not to your liking?" asked Tokugawa.

Jack took a moment, cleared his throat and then answered, "No, your Imperial Majesty.  It is wonderful.  Easily the best I have been honoured to be invited to.  I am... simply distracted."

This was relayed to her and she leaned over to the Regent who then looked over to Tokugawa.  "Her Imperial Majesty asks if something is remiss that someone would be so sad during beautiful night and would like the Captain to sit close so that she could hear his story."

Tokugawa took a long moment before he motioned to Kanosayo to lead Jack to him so that he could sit directly beside Tokugawa himself.  Jack bowed low again before settling himself next to Tokugawa.  "As someone who has been at the side of this honoured guest from the moment of his arrival, I believe I know what is troubling him..." began Tokugawa.

"No," came the quiet voice of the Empress, looking at Tokugawa directly.  "I do not want to hear it from you, Tokugawa-sama, my dearest friend and friend of my father.  I wish to hear it from him... he can speak for himself, can he not?"

For a long moment there was shocked silence.  But Tokugawa bowed, and then looked at Jack with almost a pitying glance.  Jack looked over to the Regent and felt like a bug under a very focused magnifying glass, or maybe a mouse under the gaze of a hawk about to be caught for breakfast.  Jack swallowed again.  "I am honoured that your Imperial Majesty would wish to hear from me directly."

"You look like those from New New York, on New Earth.  Have you ever been there?"

"No, your Imperial Majesty," Jack answered, then flashed her one of his trademark grins.  "If you would forgive me for being so bold, have you?"

There was a collect gasp and he saw Ianto wince.  The Regent, in an expression of amusement, smiled and said, "My, he is provincial.  Would your Imperial Majesty like him removed?"

"No, I would not."

The Regent blinked in surprise, her expression going from amusement to something else entirely.  "No?"

"No... I like him.  He speaks boldly and to the point, but yet with an air of charm.  Let him stay where he is.  Tokugawa-sama, you will keep him with you, will you not?"

"As you wish, Imperial Majesty."

"Okaasan Kazuko!" called the Empress.  "I see you have retired Ichikaede-san."

Through the protocol, the answer came back in the polite affirmative, and the Empress said, "I look forward to seeing the introduction of your successor, will she be promenading tonight?"

Again, there was an affirmative answer.

The Empress clapped her hands in delight as Kazuko bowed and announced she was almost here.  Two samurai stood and opened the screen.

Jack had no context to describe or compare what he saw.  The new Tayuu looked much like the old one, only he knew it wasn't.  And yet he couldn't shake a sense of familiarity, even at this distance.

But he got the sense that promenade meant parade.

And that was exactly what it was.

The first person he saw clearly was a man, holding a sign in Japanese.  As he approached the stairs he turned aside and backed away so that he was out of the way but to the side.  Two little girls in red climbed the three steps into the room and sat on either side, like they had when the Tayuu came to the Doctor's banquet.  Only this time there was three oiran, which looked like geisha only with more showy hair ornaments, kimono and the front tied obi.  These filtered into the banquet after bowing low at the entrance, moving up farther than the geisha were permitted to mingle with the higher ranked guests.

And then the Tayuu was seen in her full glory as she glided in a peculiar figure eight style step that almost seemed to be its own dance while leaning one graceful hand on a towelette on the shoulder of a formally dressed man.  Another man behind held up a paper umbrella above her head to shade her from a non-existent sun, given it was late in the evening.  When she reached the steps, she gracefully stepped out of the shoes and folded her hands into the front knot of her obi as the man took the heavy brocade kimono from her shoulder to reveal another underneath.

She knelt, partially, with one hand touching the tatami in what for her was as a bow.  The Tayuu then stood regally in front of them all.  Jack saw Ianto stiffen in shock.  Through the protocol agents she was announced as Ichikana, the new Tayuu of the Kazuko okiya of oiran, First Class among Tayuu.  The Empress clapped in delight and even Tokugawa looked at her with open desire.

The Empress beckoned her closer and the Tayuu walked, not in the same figure eight walk, but in a sure, almost arrogant, confident walk to sit beside Tokugawa and Jack.  It was at this point that both Tokugawa and and Jack got their first clear look at Ichikana.

It was the Doctor.

* * * * * * *

Ianto had to fight to get his breathing under control as the Doctor swept past him, dressed like a queen but he knew what the role of a Tayuu was and his stomach did sick flips.

He looked up at Jack and tried to get the message across but Jack couldn't see her properly, and given all the make-up, the hair and hair ornaments... as well as the kimono that gave even Time Lord formal robes a run for their money in 'showy'... Jack likely wasn't making the connection.

Hell, even the shade of red was right for a Prydonian... the Doctor likely felt right at home with the political intrigue and maneuvering.  No, that was cruel and not true.  Even Autumn had chafed under the restrictions of Time Lord society.  If she couldn't deal with it, then her son and her great-granddaughter likely couldn't either.

But the parallels were still drawn.

As tiny as the Doctor was, she still cut an imposing and impressive figure in the kimono.  It was easy to see her on the Council of Time Lords.  She would have been truly impressive.

He jolted himself from those thoughts just as she sat by Jack and Jack, Ianto was amused to note, finally recognized her with a double and then triple take.

* * * * * * *

The Regent looked the new Tayuu up and down.  She wasn't that old, but she wasn't that young either.  In fact, she was right in the same generation as Ichikaede and herself had been.  Masao looked down to Mikana and asked, "Kazuko-san, I cannot remember seeing this one in school.  Where ever did she come from?  She is so exotic I would almost think her foreign!"

Tokugawa decided to look the Doctor up and down.  "My goodness, but the Regent brings up a good point.  I would have certainly remembered an oiran as beautiful and exotic as this one!  I am pleased you found such a fitting successor as Tayuu."

Through the protocol came the answer.  "Oh, Ichikana has been with us so long that I can barely remember when she came to us.  Exotic?  No, surely you are mistaken, Tokugawa-san.  Surely you remember Ichikana from another banquet.  Perhaps as oiran?"

"I would remember it if that where the case, Kazuko-san," was Tokugawa's terse answer.

Jack realized that Kazuko, or Ichikaede, had purposely left the clue open for them.  Tokugawa had indeed betrayed them and sold, or traded, the Doctor for something and she had taken the opportunity to needle the daimyo about it.

"You are very kind and give such generous compliments, Tokugawa-sama... I am flattered but do not deserve them," said the Doctor, shyly looking down at the tatami.  "The Regent is also too kind."

Jack had to hold himself in at the obvious change in her demeanour.  It took everything in his power to not jump up and beat Tokugawa into a pulp for betraying the Doctor, and then for him to not shake sense into her at the same time.

"Masao-san, the Tayuu is old enough to be someone's mother.  I have seen younger geiko," said the Empress.  "She is pretty, but she is a bit old to be a Tayuu..."

The Regent grinned, suddenly pleased.  "You are right, Radiant One.  Should I send her away if she displeases you so?"

"No, I will allow her presence."

Kazuko thanked the Empress and the Doctor bowed.

Jack gritted his teeth and wondered what had happened in the months they had been separated to cause the Doctor to accept this so thoroughly that she was impossible to discern from the others.

The hours passed and the Doctor entertained Tokugawa while Jack fought the nausea that threatened to swamp him.  He was sure if looks could kill the daimyo would have been dead many times over, but all he could do was sit through this and pray, now that he had an idea of where to find the Doctor later, that he could fight his way through the throngs of samurai that would be between him and the Doctor.

It was during one particular moment when one of the mayor's samurai got a bit too touchy feely with her that he almost half rose when the Doctor looked him straight in the eye and quelled him with a glance that held sharpened steel behind it, one that said the calm was only the eye of the hurricane that made up the Oncoming Storm.  Jack sat down, deflated but relieved.  Then realized she had something up those voluminous sleeves.

Which meant so did Kazuko and they were working together.  He could have laughed in relief.

From that point on he decided, in honour of their reunion, to at least enjoy himself.

Unfortunately, it was at that point that the Regent took offense to one of the other oiran, slapping her in the face hard enough to send the poor girl reeling in shock and pain to the floor.  "You've been making faces at me all night!" exclaimed a very drunk Matsumaira.

The Doctor half stood, almost ready to go to the poor girl when the Regent turned on her instead.  "You are a fraud!  I do not remember you and I was there until only recently."

No one seemed shocked at the revelation, but more so her behaviour.  Tokugawa stood up, putting a hand on her arm.  "Madam Regent, the Emperor should not see you act so out of turn..."

"She is an assassin sent to kill me!" The Regent pointed a finger at the Doctor.  "And if Ichikaede doesn't see that then she is a fool, and if she does then she is on it.  I demand satisfaction!"

The Regent drew a knife from within her obi and took two steps towards Ichikaede, who said, quite clearly, "It is forbidden to draw a blade of war in the presence of the Empress!"

Everything went still and quiet, and even the Regent looked at the knife in her hand in shock, and then to the rest of them.  "The Regent has sullied herself and made herself unworthy to stand in the Empress' presence," came the mayor's voice, almost in shock.

With a scream of rage, the former Regent launched herself at the young Empress.  The young girl screamed, but due to the robes she wore was not able to move out of the way quickly enough and was tripped up.  She fell awkwardly.

The Doctor launched herself into the Regent's path, knocking her aside, and knocking the blade out of her hand.  The knife slid along the floor.  No one made a move to pick it up, but one of the samurai moved himself between it and the Regent who lay sprawled awkwardly on the tatami mats.  Ichikaede said, in amusement and surprise, "The Tayuu saved the Empress without touching the blade.  What are the chances of that?"

Tokugawa looked from the Doctor to the blade, to the Regent and then back to the Doctor again as the Empress regained her seat and smoothed out her kimono and hair as best she could.  She then looked at the current situation as well.  Everyone bowed before the Doctor, who stood there in surprise, not really understand what was happening.  Neither did Jack or Ianto, but given that everyone else was bowed, they did so as well.  The Empress stood up and walked over to grasp the Doctor's hand, who looked down at the young girl in surprise.  "You saved me... without being sullied, as they would teach me."  The girl smiled.  "As such I am told that makes you my new Regent, but also more than that.  It makes you the Shogun, my hand and my guardian.  My voice even after I am old enough to rule without a Regent.  This is your... I think the word is destiny... and mine."

For a long moment the Doctor was speechless, and she looked around to see Ichikaede's half hidden smile of satisfaction and Tokugawa's completely unhidden horror.  "Yes, I believe it does," agreed the Doctor.

* * * * * * *

"And so it ends up that Tokugawa had been drummed out of UNIT years before all this happened at his bid at being Shogun was one last try at power," finished the Doctor as she walked around the console.  "We couldn't prove he was involved with my kidnapping, so he is still daimyo.  But nothing else."

"So, now what?" asked Jack as she finished programming the dematerialization sequence.

"Well, I appointed Ichikaede... excuse me, Kazuko, as my second so while I'm not there she will be Shogun in my stead.  I believe she will be a good one.  She has a good head for leadership and a keen sense of justice.  I'll pop in every so often."

Jack looked at the Doctor who was back in her normal clothing, and her head free of the katsura wig.  "I have to admit you made an impressive Oiran, Doc."

"Ugh... you wouldn't believe how heavy that get-up was... but it was impressive, wasn't it?" she grinned.

"Looked like something from Gallifrey, actually..." needled Ianto.

"Don't remind me."

* * * * * * * *

Behind the TARDIS, blocked by it until it disappeared in a storm of wind and sound, an estate burned... Kazuko watched it.  She wasn't satisfied to see it burn but saw it as a sign of change.

Now Tokugawa had nothing... assuming he had survived the purge of his own house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IN THE NEXT CHAPTER  
> 9 - **_SPIDER TO THE FLY_**  
>  The Valeyard lures the Doctor into a trap, but is everything as it seems... or is the enemy that is in the trap instead as old enemies of the Doctor expect old tactics from the old Doctor. But the new Doctor doesn't use old tricks... as it becomes a galactic game of cat and mouse with deadly consequences as the new Doctor comes to terms with the reasons behind the old Doctor's methods.
> 
> * * * * * * * *
> 
>  **A/N** : Holy shizznik, this was a difficult one to write. I was frustrated by it at multiple points and then wrote points in almost a trance-y daze as it just came out. It's also easily the longest one I've written because of the visuals I had to paint with words to bring it to life.
> 
>  _Dedicated to the memory of the recently passed Nicholas Courtney, who passed away on Tuesday at age 81. Best known, to Doctor Who fans, as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart. Rest in peace, Brig._


	9. Spider to the Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Valeyard lures the Doctor into a trap, but is everything as it seems... or is the enemy that is in the trap instead as old enemies of the Doctor expect old tactics from the old Doctor. But the new Doctor doesn't use old tricks... as it becomes a galactic game of cat and mouse with deadly consequences as the new Doctor comes to terms with the reasons behind the old Doctor's methods.

"Before I get into that, I have something else to tell you," started Gwen.  "All Torchwood locations were sent these memos last week.  When we read them... well... it changes things."

Jack lifted a brow, and looked over at Ianto, who was carefully remaining out of sight.  "Such as?"

"A Royal edict, so to speak."  Gwen had this look on her face, almost as if she were too pleased with the fact that she had something to hold to over Jack in that she knew something he didn't.  "Firstly, they have picked a new Torchwood One, a 'new head office'."

"Where?" asked Jack.

"Not here," she said, the relief evident.  "Even if Ianto were to come back, hello you... I know you are there... even if he were we'd not be able to handle a semi-global organization in the Hub.  So... they re-assigned the numbers.  We're still Three, however, Five is now One."

"Toronto?" asked Jack.

"And our new Director is a man named Claude Vailleaux," she answered.  "And his memo reads, 'It has come to my attention that there is a certain outdated and obsolete mission that has overshadowed Torchwood and the good it has done.  In the interest of the updating, I now correct this oversight.  A few years ago Her Royal Majesty rescinded the capture/kill on sight order as well as the exile of the alien being known only as 'Sir Doctor of TARDIS'.  Unfortunately, due to the fall and destruction of both Torchwood Canary Wharf (the former TW-1) and Torchwood Cardiff (TW-3), as well as the attempted invasions in between, –thwarted most often, ironically enough, by said Doctor-,  no one thought to check the memos and send an organization-wide order to update the mission.  My first order of business as the new Director of Torchwood and the newly designated TW-1 in Toronto, Canada, -which is still a nominal part of the Empire under Her Royal Majesty, with her blessing and backing-, is to correct this oversight.  Under no circumstances are any Torchwood agents or personnel to ever interfere or seek to capture or kill the Doctor, unless ordered otherwise.  Instead, it would be in our best interests to aid him and his Companions in their mission.  Perhaps, with this new era of cooperation this can forward our true mission which is to understand alien life and protect the Empire, -what remains of it-, as well as the Earth through punitive defence if necessary, but preferably, primarily, through diplomatic means.  That is our mission and our calling. With the blessing of our Queen, let us walk forward...' anyway, it gets a bit political after that, but the gist is that the Doctor is no longer the enemy of Torchwood, Jack.  You got your wish."

Jack leaned back, a relieved sigh escaping him.  "About fucking time."

"Now, where is she?"

"The Doctor?"

"Unless there's another 'she' now on the TARDIS, then yes, I mean the Doctor," answered Gwen mildly sarcastic.

"Well, there is the TARDIS," supplied the Doctor as she came in, still towelling off her hair from her shower.

Ianto blinked in shock, but Jack never seemed surprised or shocked by her appearance in a dark red and expensive velvet dressing robe, cinched tight at the waist so that only a small V at her neck could be seen, only the small indent where collarbone met the neck was visible and the rest closed and hidden away.  She also was wearing silk pyjama bottoms in a pearly white, and the same expensive dark red velvet on her ballet style slippers.  In fact, the whole thing was too well pulled together, as if it was part of a set.

A silver chain dangled from her neck, over the robe.  It was the first either of them had seen of it.  On the chain were three rings, one a bridal set, with the matching men’s piece.  Ianto looked down, then over to the wall, anywhere to escape the evidence of her widowed status.  Jack also saw the same thing, cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Gwen.  "She's here."

"So I heard," came Gwen's voice, sensing the sudden uncomfortable silence.

The Doctor was quick to steer the conversation into whatever it had supposed to go.  "So?"

"Right," said Gwen.  "We got a distress signal from a satellite.  Alien, but we're the closest evidently.  I'm... uhm... wait, now there's an address of a sorts to send it to... how?... anyway... I'm sending you the transmission we got."

The Doctor smiled and looked up to the ceiling, knowing it was the TARDIS that had made the contact.  There was a self-satisfied hum that, unless she strained to feel it, was nearly impossible to detect but she could feel clearly through the soles of her slippers.  "Thanks, Gwen," said Jack.  "I guess we're looking into it.  Thanks for the news as well."

"I... I know it's a bit late for," Gwen trailed off, chewing her lip.  "I'm sorry... Doctor."

"He would have been glad to know it."  The Doctor smiled sadly.  "He might not have changed his mind about Torchwood given the incident at Canary Wharf, but he would have been glad to know that it was a step in the right direction.  I know I am."

"Anyway, I should get back to work," said Gwen.  "Don't be a stranger since you're not an enemy."

With that the connection cut off.  The Doctor sighed and then said, "Well, we have a bit of a misadventure.  Interesting.  Vinvocci.  Haven't seen them in awhile.  I'll finish up on the repairs and then we'll go see what's up there."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

The repairs took a week, but the Doctor was determined to finish them as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, given that said repairs were on the console itself and meant it was literally in three million pieces, they wouldn't have been able to leave immediately until she put it all back together.

The Doctor asserted that once the repairs were done they could use the TARDIS go back in time to help the station, and Jack and Ianto had felt the TARDIS's own affirmative agreement to her statement.  Jack also got the feeling that the TARDIS was moodily asserting that either the repairs were done or they were going no-where.

The week passed slowly, and Ianto would bring her tea, coffee and basically make sure she received necessary nourishment while they both would drag her to bed if she appeared to be pulling an all nighter.

It was then they realized that when she said a week, she meant the Gallifreyan equivalent, which was eight Gallifreyan days long... and a Gallifreyan day was nearly thirty-two hours long.  Ianto had laughed at Jack's grieved look when the math was done and that meant nearly two weeks in the Earth equivalent once the differential in days was taken into account.

* * * * * * * *

At the end of the first week, the Doctor came bounding into the galley, cleaned up and dressed for meeting new people, as Ianto called it.  Jack called it her "the Doctor" look as it rarely varied and was especially worn when she left the TARDIS.  All other times, she wore a varied outfit and would sometimes answer to her human given name of Susan.

"All right, the repairs to the TARDIS are finished," she announced with no preamble.  "So, shall we?"

Jack grinned, as did Ianto.

Back to normal.

They followed her to the console room and Jack stopped in shock.  Ianto seemed less impressed, or surprised.  "It's how I remember it," he said simply as he walked up to the console.

Jack looked around in shock.  It was still the smaller, secondary, library.  And it was still the coral struts and alien technology.

It was the overall repaired state that took his breath away, the less hodge podge and more advanced alien.  There were still some jury rigged bits, but they were less noticeable and seemed to make more sense.  The room seemed more finished, and, he couldn't put his finger on it, but it also seemed to harness more power... and he could only stand there in awe.

"You said repairs," said Jack.

"Yes, well, my grandfather's jury rigged work was not holding up anymore - and it was getting to the point where it was done properly or not at all," she answered, and then she touched something on the console, and it responded with a gentle blue glow.

Jack had a chance of flying it before, now... the interface was sleek, touch controlled and perhaps telepathically as the screen he remembered that monitored the goings on and showed what was happening outside was gone.  There was no visible interface from the TARDIS to the pilot, or pilots.

Two seconds later, suspended in the air, on three holographic screens the size and width of a wide screen for a computer, evenly spaced around the console, appeared the data he was looking for.  The Doctor touched a few things on the screen, as the symbols were in her language, dragging with her fingers to the area where she needed the data and Jack stood there in awe again.

"Wow..." he breathed.  "That's an update and a half, Doc."

"Actually, it's not, as I can't pilot the way I should be able to yet," she answered with a grimace.  "But it's a major step forward to have these online again after literal centuries of them being offline... perhaps even longer.  The telepathic interface is still... touch and go and not in the way it should be."

"How much more do you have to do?" asked Ianto.

"Uhm, well, I still haven't found the bug in the chameleon circuit, so for now we're always going to look like a blue Police Box," she answered.  "If I could fix it so that I could switch between the default and the box, I'd live with that.  Easier to pilot in the vortex, faster travel and more accurate and less energy use in the default.  But, the box was his signature... for obvious reasons... and is a bit less noticeable than the default."

"What's the default?" asked Jack.

"When you see it, you'll know it.  Think the coral, glass and bronze like in here, only a ship built to travel the vortex and you have a fairly accurate description."  She took a breath and sighed.  "Of course it's not really bronze but an alloy found only on Gallifrey and very few other planets, and the glass is a high integrity alloy made from a material similar to glass, but isn't in the Earth sense..."

On the console itself she took two fingers and slid them up from approximately midway up the console to another point.  The grinding whoosh gained in volume and the time rotor moved up and down.  The three screens showed mostly the same information, but on each side of the screen, overlaying the view of the vortex and other data, was a series of differing data.  Jack realized that one screen was meant to be shared by two stations, and therefore two Time Lords.  While one could theoretically straddle two stations, and in the Doctor's case, one on all six, it was clear it was meant for six pilots.

Which meant, while she was running around from station to station and back again to cover all six, the ride was far from comfortable or stable.

As promised, however, it was accurate.  By the evidence they seen far more accurate than it had ever been.

The TARDIS came out of the vortex, and materialized in space, a large blue planet dominating the view on all three screens.  There was no sign of a station, and the Doctor moved to a second station, touching the screen there and dragging a part of the picture to the side.  With a bit of a wrist flick she moved it to a larger screen that neither Jack or Ianto had seen above the door that took up the entire wall.  When the picture on the smaller screens were enlarged on the larger screen, it was Ianto who pointed out the tiny station in the field of blue.  "There," he said, finger pointed about midway up and to the left.

"Good eye, Ianto," said the Doctor as she then zoomed in on the smaller screen, before the next wrist flick sent the zoomed in reading to the larger screen.  "Now, what are we looking at?"

"How far are we out?" asked Jack.

"Far enough that their long range sensors shouldn't be picking us up... not that it matters.  A TARDIS has perception filters, and those Grandfather always made sure worked... at maximum."  She looked at the screen.  "We are three thousand kilometres out."

"What is that reading?" asked Ianto.

The Doctor looked at it and then brought it up on the large screen, looking at the lines and the numbers on it.  She whistled.  "A decaying orbit and, from the looks of it, their power is gone.  They have no way to re-adjust themselves out of it.  The TARDIS is estimating that if it continues to decay, they'll enter the atmosphere in a week - an Earth week, that is.  The Vinvocci have a similar time system to Earth."

"If they bail out, what are their chances of survival on the planet?" asked Jack.

"Nil - for a water planet it's extremely hostile."  The Doctor sighed, then she went still, her eyes opening wide in shock.  "Well... that's new."

"What is it?"

"There's another Time Lord on that station."

* * * * * * * * *

The TARDIS materialized in a store room, and while it was nearly immaculate and dust-free the wind kicked up by the re-materialization still found little bits of debris to throw around.  Finally it groaned and blinked into solid reality.  The Doctor was now dressed in blue jeans, a white cotton blouse and the olive blazer jacket. Over that she wore a similar brown over coat that was nearly identical to the one her grandfather had worn in his tenth incarnation; except  that hers was black, brushed the ground, and had a hood, not that she;d use that much, The fabric of the coat was expensive pressed wool, which gave it a smooth and clean appearance.  She wore her heeled black leather boots again, and they lent her some height.

Jack came out next, shrugging his coat over his shoulders and he clapped his hands in the sudden chill.  "Damn, it's cold in here."

Ianto came out, also wearing a long coat.  His was black and made from pressed wool, cut well and to fit.  Their breaths clouded in the air.  "Is the temp a Vinvocci thing?" asked Ianto.

"No, they like it warm, like humans.  This is cold even for Time Lords, and Gallifrey was a cooler planet.  Or, at least, the Citadel of the Time Lords was, as was the house I was raised," she said absently, then shook herself.  "Anyway, let's find the people who sent that distress signal."

They pushed open the door and walked out onto a gantry above a busy central promenade where humans and the cactus-like Vinvocci scrambled around, packing, rushing -- clearly preparing to evacuate.  One Vinvocci woman was overseeing all this and yelling out orders every so often.  When the Doctor walked up to her, she blinked, then saw Jack and Ianto, blinked again and asked, "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Uhm, just arrived.  Saw you were in a pinch, thought I would come by and see if I could help," answered the Doctor.  "We got your distress signal."

"But the nearest place that could have received it is a week away and they don't have the capability to help us... we just sent that signal an hour ago," retorted the Vinvocci.  "The next place is months away... and they have limited capability... how did you know?"

"We weren't that far away," answered the Doctor.  "And Earth -- sorry, Sol Three --, relayed the message to us.  There is an agency on the planet that is not so xeno-phobic and they picked up your signal and sent it to me."

"And who are you?" she asked.

"Forgive me!  I thought I said, but I guess I didn't," the Doctor said, surprised, and then she held out her hand in greeting.  "I'm the Doctor, and this is Jack and Ianto, my travel companions."

"That... wait... I know that name... my sister met a man on Earth by the name of the Doctor... but he was a man..." said the Vinvocci.

"Was she running around as a scientist, working for a millionaire with a device that supposedly could heal anything?" asked the Doctor, and at the Vinvocci's affirmative nod.  "Oh good, how is she doing?"

"You're... you're the same one?!" exclaimed the Vinvocci, and when the Doctor nodded she grasped the Doctor's hand and shook it.  "Oh my word, Doctor, it's truly, truly an honour and thank the stars you're here.  If you're anything like what my sister said you were, maybe you can help us.  While that doesn't answer the question of how you got here, or why you're female all of a sudden, I'll live with that for now."

"Is your sister here?"

"No... she's on Vinvoccel, why?"

"Well, she was lovely to work with.  Absolutely brilliant, actually."

"I'll let her know you said that, if we get out of this..." the Vinvocci woman slapped her forehead.  "And I know who you are, but I haven't told you my name.  I'm Kelin, the Director of this station."

"Pleased to meet you, Kelin."  The Doctor leaned on the rail, and then she looked at Jack and Ianto.  With an incline and motion of her head, she signalled to them to investigate on their own, which they did... heading for the nearest stairs down to the busy area below.  "Why don't you fill me in?"

Kelin led her to a lift.  "It's better if I show you."

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * * *

Jack and Ianto walked through the busy throngs of people.  The packing was done at an orderly, if frantic, pace- and anyone old enough and strong enough to help, even children, was doing so.  Those who weren't old enough were kept close and watched by older siblings.  "What are we looking for?" asked Ianto after awhile.

"Probably that other Time Lord she sensed, or signs of someone who might have not had the station's best interests at heart." Jack looked around.  So far everyone seemed to belong, except, of course Jack and Ianto themselves.  "She will work on finding the technical fault and fixing it, if she can, and then probably help with the evac if she can't.  We are her eyes on other things."

Ianto nodded.  "That's what I thought."

Jack had no idea if it were true or not but it seemed a reasonable idea.  After all, he and Ianto were investigators of a sort back on Earth.  Torchwood certainly qualified in the investigation part.  Ianto seemed on edge, and Jack supposed it had something to do with the field of blue that filled the windows of the station.

It was an advanced station, of obvious alien make, but also had the same clunky modular design that was common throughout all space-faring planets, although, given that it was a station, it was far more open in feel, with open concept promenades that were multiple levels high and the sides made of plas-steel 'window's to the outside so that it didn't feel as cramped as a ship would.  It had market spaces, and hydroponic garden spaces that likely helped in recycling air, water, and wastes in a more refreshing and natural manner than a recycling filter.

The lights dimmed, and the humans and Vinvocci alike looked around in alarm.  When they came back up, Jack and Ianto found themselves face to face with a startled looking man.

Ianto stepped around him.  "Pardon me, sir, didn't see you there," said Ianto, not even giving him a second thought, but he turned back around when he saw that Jack and the strange man were staring at each other in unabashed shock.

"Holy shit," said Jack, staring at the man who stared back in equal shock.  "Of all the people we didn't expect to find."

Ianto looked at the stranger closer.

He wasn't unattractive, and Ianto, although there was a stirring of jealousy, appreciated the man.  He was tall and whip thin, but not skinny.  At least, not too skinny as to be unattractive.  His hair was a shade of dark blonde bordering on brown, but still more blonde than brown, and he wore it short, spiky... sideburns.

He wore a blue pinstripe suit that was fitted to his body and... this made Ianto almost snort in derision at the fashion faux pas... Converse running shoes in red.

He also had a grin that could power the entire station, so broad and almost manic it was.  "Captain Jack Harkness... didn't I leave you on Earth?" he asked, and the accent screamed Londoner.

Ianto couldn't make sense of it, and then it hit him.  He had seen this man before.  Twice.  Once on a security screen in black and white at Canary Wharf, standing beside Director Yvonne Hartman, and then again on a computer screen when the Earth was stolen by the Daleks a few years ago.  Being a time traveller himself twice over, he knew this man.

His lost Autumn's son.

The Doctor.

* * * * * * * *

The Doctor followed Kelin onto the bridge of the space station.  Only, she supposed, one could not call it the bridge as it was not a ship per se.  Well, it fell into the in between area.  She pushed those thoughts aside and focused on everything around her.  As a Time Lord, she could multitask and, like others could keep track on one train of thought, she could follow far more than that easily.  It was one of the reasons her grandfather, or her, had always seemed like they bounced around from topic to topic and back again without ever losing track while their human companions tried to just keep up.

While verbally it was hard to follow, as a telepathic race they could also hold multiple topics of conversation all at once.  It was like the difference between broadband and dial up -- not only could their minds keep pace but so could the connection between them.

It was only used when needed as doing so could still cause headaches, even in them.  But, with practice entire conversations could be held without so much as a word being spoken.  It was still so tiring though, and was why Time Lords still had vocal cords as talking in their equally, but necessarily, complex language was out of sheer necessity to keep up with the thread of conversation.

She missed the other Time Lords, even the ones she had not gotten on with very well.  Their loss meant the mental and basic connection of even just the language was also lost.  It would have been nice to still have her grandfather around just to talk to.

The Doctor could still sense the touch and feel of another Time Lord, but he -- or she -- were tamping down so much on their psychic signature that she could not tell who it was, or even their gender... but she kept trying... sending out gentle touches to lure the other into the open.  She kept sending their word for please, as well as the sense of loneliness she felt, to them trying to get them to respond, but they refused.  Surely they felt the same?

Or... perhaps because the range was so short now that for the communication to work -- other than simply knowing there was another -- that they had to be in the same room and the other was also screaming the same and wondering why she wasn't responding.

 _Arcanye hlarnyni_...

There was a slight acknowledge to her call, almost a touch in return but no actual words, not even an impression of any feeling behind but it was better than nothing.

Kelin finished explaining.  "We simply lost power, with no explanation or how or why."

"I'll need to see your power readings, maybe I can pick out something you missed."

"Of course."  Kelin called another person, a human man.  "This is Cole, he can show you what you need to see.  Cole, this is the Doctor.  Could you show her around?  She's going to see if she can fix our problem."

"All right, Kelin," answered Cole, and he led the Doctor over to his station.  "We noticed the power drain after the last cargo hauler came through."

"Anything unusual about the hauler?" asked the Doctor.

"No, the usual.  Cargo and some new personnel, when the Vinvocci say cargo they mean passengers as much as actual cargo like we do," answered Cole.  "There was the usual on the ship of both."

"And I imagine that they were checked out thoroughly?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'd imagine so.  It's not really my department though.  I'm engineering, not security or shipping/receiving," explained Cole, as the Doctor took out her sonic screwdriver and used to hack into the records and pull up the records.  "Hmm, a whole lot of boring.  The actual cargo is as ordered, no surprises there.  People check out from both Vinvoccel and various worlds where humanity comes in.  No other aliens."

The Doctor then watched the security feed of the passengers.  All normal, so far as she... and then she saw him.

"No..." she breathed.  "It can't be."

* * * * * * * *

Ianto watched as Jack and the Doctor, this Doctor, caught up.  "Jack, I could have sworn I just left you in Cardiff..."

"You... what?" asked Jack surprised, before he grasped his shoulders.  "Doctor... before I answer that answer me this... why did you just leave me in Cardiff?"

"Well, you and Martha just helped me with some repairs to the TARDIS after... ah... what happened on the Valiant...  why?" asked the Doctor, puzzled.  "How long has it been for you?"

"Significantly longer, but I can't tell you more than that."

"Nor would I want you to!"  Then the Doctor looked over at Ianto.  "Who is this?"

"This is Ianto Jones, he's also from Torchwood... the same Torchwood you took me back to," answered Jack.  "Oh shit, sorry, forgot to introduce you two.  Ianto, this is the Doctor, the one I travelled with first.  Well, kind of.  The second one I travelled with.  Doctor, this is Ianto Jones, my right hand at Torchwood and... he is also very special to me personally."

"Oh," answered the Doctor, his eyebrows raised with sudden understanding.  "Oh!  A pleasure, Mr. Jones... an absolute pleasure.  Any friend of Jack's is a friend of mine."

The Doctor shook Ianto's hand enthusiastically and Ianto found himself smiling and shaking back.  "A pleasure to meet you sir."

"Oh please, don't call me that.  Just Doctor will do," said the Doctor in response.

"Understood, s... I mean, Doctor," answered Ianto, appraising the man as he did so.

There was so much of Autumn in him that it was easy to see the relation between mother and son, although... quite frankly, Autumn had been far more reserved even with the same joy of life.  But... wait... no... there was something off.  The eyes were not the same.  Even his Doctor's eyes were the same as Autumn's, but his were more flat, not as full of life.  Something wasn't right.

But now Jack and the Doctor were moving off.  Ianto followed for a time, observing as he did so.  He remembered the Doctor from Canary Wharf... from that short conversation on the computers when the Daleks stole their planet.

This was not the same man.

He looked like the same man, had most of the same mannerisms and was next to impossible to tell the difference, but Ianto could feel his instincts screaming that it was not.  But Jack, for some reason could not see this, or perhaps would not see it.  The original Doctor was long dead and perhaps Jack was hoping this was his friend.  Ianto could understand that but knew it was folly.

It took a split second, but when both their attention was elsewhere, Ianto slipped away and double backed to the lift that the Doctor had taken.  There was a guard there and he said to him, "I need to see the Doctor... she went with Kelin."

He was allowed on the lift, and a guard pressed a button as they rode the lift up.

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * * *

Jack was normally the most suspicious and observant man in a group.  But he had one huge, gaping, blind spot and that blind spot was the Doctor.  He walked on with his friend, oblivious to the signs that Ianto had picked up on.  Granted, Ianto had not picked up on them immediately either, but he had picked up on them and quickly moved back and to the nearest person that could tell him the next step.

The Valeyard wondered at that.  How would a man who, as far as his memory as "the Doctor" served, would have only known him by stories only?  Obviously, in their long history they had not actually met until today or Jack would not have felt the need to actually introduce them.

But yet Ianto picked up on the differences enough to go running to Susan and alert her of the deception.

The Valeyard pushed the how he could have known, far faster than Jack, and then knew enough to not take him on face to face.

They were moving into a more seldom used part of the station now, and... finally... Jack noticed something wasn't quite right with the situation.  "Hey... I know I always wanted to get you alone but I can't help but notice we've lost Ianto and there's no one around here."

"Very true," answered the Valeyard.

"So, Doc, where's the TARDIS?" asked Jack.  "I have a tale to tell you, but I can't... but I've missed the TARDIS..."

"The funny part about that Jack is that I don't have the TARDIS," answered the Valeyard.

"You what?" asked Jack, surprised, then the suspicion and instinct started to click on.  "But... how did you get here?"

"Hopped a trip with some aliens off of Earth, then made my way here.  Funny thing is about this place is that its months away from anywhere that help could reach before something disastrous happens.  Or... within range of a planet that has the curious habit of being the haunt of a miracle worker... an alien with a ship that can travel through time and space..." said the Valeyard evenly, as he walked around to block Jack's only method of escape.

"You're not the Doctor, are you?" asked Jack.

"No... I'm the Valeyard."

Jack didn't even see the punch coming, nor the following strike from the butt of a bolt pistol that knocked him unconscious.

* * * * * * * * *

Ianto ran onto the bridge and looked around, before laying eyes on the Doctor and running over to her.  She looked up at him at the same time.  "I found that other Time Lord."

"His name is the Valeyard -- he's my grandfather's... he's the meta-crisis," she answered.

"But he's dead, isn't he?" asked Ianto.

"I'm sorry, who is the Valeyard?" asked Kelin, walking over and catching the tone of the conversation.

"Trouble," answered the Doctor, turning to Ianto.  "Where's Jack."

"I couldn't separate them without him figuring out that I already figured him out."  Ianto looked down.  "I'm sorry."

The Doctor patted his arm.  "No, don't be.  You did right.  You confirmed what I thought when I saw him walk on from the cargo ship.  Kelin, this Valeyard is your saboteur, I'm sure of it.  Now, I don't know what he did or when he did it, but..." The Doctor faded off, her mind elsewhere.

Now he'd feel the need to push at her mind and test the connection.  Recognition snapped through the mutual connection.  While she couldn't tell where he was, and vice versa, she now had his psychic identifying mark.  Now, if they were to encounter each other the minute they sensed the other they'd know it was them.  There was no words, no feelings, just the missing link of a presence and she nearly wept with the relief of having that part of her mind sing with the feel of another of her own kind.

And she could tell his mind was doing the same even as he struggled to shut it down, and to regain control.

Finally, there was a sense of resignation, and then, _And so we meet again, Doctor_.

The feel and sound of her language, and of another Time Lord, in her mind was like a thirsty man in a desert denied too long and then suddenly given water.  She latched onto it with relief and joy, but still a healthy dose of wariness.  _We do, Valeyard.  I must admit I am feeling mixed feelings on your survival_.

 _Mixed?  Truly?_   There was an amused not and... was that... regret or relief?  _I will admit the same.  Let's drop the titles and pretences, Arkytior, you know what I want_.

 _And you know I can't let you have it_.

 _Do you really think you can stop me?  I may be the, well, now I am a Time Lord.  Interesting genes we have, very dominant... all it took was the burn of regeneration to recreate me fully.  I have all his memories, his feelings... his skills and now his abilities.  Who am I if not the Doctor?_   And now there was a definite note of amusement, but she could sense the other behind it.

 _You are not him.  You have not only his memories, but also Donna's.  And your own.  You diverged from him and became your own person, now live with the consequences!_   She gritted her teeth.  _And I will stop you and this.  I will honour him.  And, as his 'son', if you want to honour him as well stop being such a selfish git and live up to the legacy he gave you... Uncle..._

The contact was broken, even though she could still feel his presence like she would have another Time Lord before they had been lost.

She looked at Ianto and held his shoulder.  "He wants the TARDIS."

"What?" asked Ianto.  "How'd he know that we'd be here?"

"Think about it... who else could answer a distress call from here in time, given the closest place to hear it?"

Ianto did, and the minute it connected in his mind his expression darkened.  Kelin also figured it out.  "This whole thing is a trap for you?" she asked, almost but not quite disbelieving.  "So what now?"

"We defuse his trap, and defeat the ambush," answered the Doctor.  "But... we've already walked into it.

* * * * * * * * *

Jack woke and found himself lying on the floor, steel cargo crates like those used on Earth surrounding him in a square large enough to allow him to lay flat, and perhaps pace, but not much more than that.  They were stacked neatly three or four high, and of course they were stacked so that the supports were on the vertical so that they could not be used to climb up and out.

He blinked and looked up to the familiar form of who he thought had been his friend but he now knew, belatedly, that he wasn't.

But at least he knew who it was.  "The Valeyard, right?" asked Jack.

The Valeyard quirked an eyebrow.  "You remember me."

"Oh yeah, I remember you." Jack looked around, but was disappointed to note that there wasn't any way out.  "Aren't you dead?"

"I regenerated.  Funny that.  He told me I couldn't.  Granted, I kept my appearance although I have to wonder if my next will look different.  Probably..." He grinned, but, although Jack expected it to look the same it wasn't.  It was far colder, not nearly as manic or wide, and it didn't quite reach his eyes.  "... Especially now that I have two hearts and I can feel that I am a full Time Lord now.  Separate.  Different.  My own man, Jack.  But, I still have his memories even if now they feel more like I watch through another's eyes."

"Maybe because you're not him?" asked Jack.

"Hmm, perhaps," the Valeyard answered, then he sat down, letting one leg hang tantalizing out of reach but yet over the edge.  "It wasn't hard to get you here, although I admit that Ianto was an unexpected third wheel in my plans.  Didn't expect him to see through me faster than you, either.  Just who is he?"

Jack latched onto that piece of information, but didn't answer.  Ianto had been acting more and more like someone he didn't know.  Granted, the Welshman had always played it close to the vest, and it was still Ianto, but since knowing he too had travelled in time and space with a Time Lord by the name of Autumn... Ianto had started showing signs of knowing far more than a plain human ought.

And the Valeyard had picked up on it minutes into knowing him.

Not that Jack was going to enlighten him on why that would be.  "I don't know.  I'm as surprised as you."

"Don't lie to me Jack."

"What would make you think I was?" asked Jack.

"Because, while you don't know me, I do have his memories and so I know you.  I know your tells.  You're lying to me."

"And, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you." Jack paced.  "Not my place."

"And that I believe."  The Valeyard stood.  "Fine then, play it your way."

"So... what are you up to?" asked Jack.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" asked the Valeyard, rhetorically.  "And I'm not going to tell you of course.  Rule number one - never tell a prisoner your plan or gloat over their predicament.  They invariably escape to tell their friends and therefore your enemy can counter you the more efficiently."

 _Dammit_ , swore Jack inwardly.  _It would figure that when the Doctor went evil and changed his name to the Valeyard that he'd know better than to make the typical mistakes_.  "No offense, but I don't appear to be in a position to escape."

"None taken," answered the Valeyard.  "I won't be a cruel prison master, however, I must take my leave.  There are details that need ironing out.  Later Jack."

With that he left and Jack slid down the side of a crate to sit on the cold floor.

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * * *

"So what are we going to do?" asked Kelin.  "Are you giving up?"

The Doctor shook her head.  "By far not, I just have to change up my plan a bit.  First, we have find Jack.  Maybe the Valeyard might have slipped an idea of how he plans to get the TARDIS from me, and maybe what he did..." she trailed off.  "No, the Valeyard was never like that.  He always played it close to the vest."

"You've encountered him before?" asked Ianto.

"Yes, and no," answered the Doctor, remembering through her grandfather's memories.

Her grandfather's murder trial -- which thankfully had been trumped up and false charges -- back on Gallifrey pushed itself to the forefront, including when he had tried to convince her grandfather to abandon his own principles.  No one could have expected finding out that the Valeyard was a future incarnation of the Doctor, but yet not.  A possible future... only more complicated... as it would seem as the truth became obvious with the meta-crisis' fall.

Rassilon only knew what he had up his damn sleeve now.

"First, let's fix the damage and stop that part of his plan.  Lives first."  She decided as she ran around the bridge with her sonic out.

"Use the security cameras to track his movements," suggested Ianto.  "Surely you have CCTV?"

The Doctor looked at Ianto, then back at Kelin and the engineer.  "Uh, yeah," answered Cole.

"Ianto, that was brilliant," said the Doctor.

"Thanks... it's just standard operation procedure at Torchwood," he responded.

"Now let's see where he's been..."

The video was surprisingly accurate, following him from the ship to his quarters.  The Doctor stood up straighter as Ianto pulled out his gun and checked it.  "Careful." She said coolly.  "One shot into a bulkhead you'll be out in space with him."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Ianto as he pushed the clip into his gun and slid the first round into the chamber.  "Kelin, have security back me up."

The Doctor continued to watch him and then the video screens started going out, static filling them.  There was an amused chortle in her mind.  "Naturally," she mused,  "…he cut off the security feed and wiped the memory."

With a sigh she joined Ianto in the lift.

* * * * * * * * *

"You realize this is a trap," said Ianto.  "There is no way he would let us see where his 'nest' is and then, conveniently, cut off the feed history at that point."

"I know, that's why I'm coming with you.  It's only a trap--"

"-- If we're not expecting it," he finished.  "I don't have a spare."

"It's fine.  My grandfather hated guns, and as such the whole universe expects me, as the Doctor, to not approve of their use."  She sighed.  "Personally... I don't like them either but sometimes I can see their purpose.  I'm unusual, even in regards to my own people, in that way.  I have this memory, of a school on Earth, where a Krillitane told my grandfather -- taunted him -- that he knew my grandfather wouldn't resort to violence because he was a Time Lord, and the Time Lords were so pacifist that they were almost indolent in their complacency."

"What happened?" asked Ianto.

"My grandfather engineered it so that the school was blown up with the Krillitane threat inside.  He might not have pulled the trigger himself but he made it so it would happen that way."  The Doctor looked at Ianto.  "We have to entertain the thought that if the Valeyard has Jack, then he also has a key to the TARDIS.  I'll have to move it and when I do, we'll be separated for a few minutes at most.  Unless..."

"He won't know where it is."

"But he could have found it," the Doctor sighed again, then she thought of something.  "Cole, show me that video feed of his quarters again."

* * * * * * * * *

The Valeyard had not found it.  In fact, while he had hacked the security feed and tracked their movements, the TARDIS eluded him.  She couldn't be avoiding him, could she? He truly wondered at that while he wandered around.  By all rights she should be overjoyed to see him and he felt the burn of his anger in the pit of his stomach again.

She couldn't have been expecting him... could she?  No.  Jack was genuinely surprised to see him and she herself had been reaching out, calling for a connection without knowing that it was him... only knowing that she was sensing another Time Lord...

The Valeyard swore.

She had known there was another Time Lord, but she had been smart enough to not assume that he was an ally.  She had remembered the Year That Never Was, which coincidentally, was how he had tricked Jack into thinking he was the Doctor by pretending it was right after Martha left him.

They both had used the memories of the original Doctor to trick each other.

With a smile, he wondered whose trap the other was walking into.  Was she walking into his... all the while, he was sure, knowing it was a trap?  Or was she using herself as bait to lure him to her trap.  "And so it is to be a Time Lord game, is it?" he mused aloud, chiding himself at underestimating her when he really should not have.

Arkytior had been brilliant in the Academy and had graduated with top honours, and she had lived among the imaginative humans long enough to pick up their cunning.  Combined with Time Lord strategy she was nearly unstoppable... like him with Donna's own human creative imagination.

He paced just on the other side of Jack's impromptu prison.  There was only one way out of this and that would be to force each other into the open.

They had so neatly forced each other into such an impasse.  In fact, it was only a matter of time before she used her considerable resources to solve the sabotage of the station.

A thrum under his feet told him she already had.

* * * * * * * *

The Doctor grinned as she and Cole reconnected the broken connections on the complete opposite side of the station from the quarters that the Valeyard had been given.  She had to admit that it was cunning game of shells.  Appear to go to one place, alter the records to make it look like he had entered his quarters at one time... but be in a whole other at the same time.

Then it had been simple math to figure out how long he had truly taken to make it to his quarters, and then where he had been.

The station righted itself and began to pull itself out of the atmosphere.  It would take hours to fully put itself into the proper orbit but already the air of panic was dissipating as everyone realized that they were moving farther away from the less than friendly planet.  The Doctor nodded to Ianto as she walked above the promenade.

It was then she saw them.

The Valeyard and Jack at the other end of the bridge like walkway.  The Valeyard held a gun, and she still felt that same chill as it was such an odd thing to see in his hands, especially with that same cool, detached look on his face.  Jack was cuffed with his hands to the front, and, except for a spectacular bruise on his face, was otherwise unharmed.

"I'm sure we both know that you holding him hostage is kind of useless," she said as she motioned the security team back.  "We both know that he's the man that can't die."

"I know that," answered the Valeyard.  "I was bringing him back to you.  He serves no purpose to me, and, unfortunately, you fixed what did serve a purpose for me."

"What was that?" asked the Doctor.

"You win, Arkytior," he said, a bit sadly.  "Admittedly, I have to wonder, though... what if I could use him after all?"

Ianto stepped forward, but the Doctor held him back.  "Valeyard..."

"I could always take him with me, keep you running after me, but then you'd have to know where... and when... I was..." the Valeyard smiled as he held up the key, Jack's key, to the TARDIS.  "And if you don't have her, how will you follow?"

"You don't have her either, I think we both know that, or we wouldn't be having this conversation.  Get to the point, although I already know what it is," said the Doctor sharply.

"Where's my TARDIS, Arkytior?"

"And that's why you haven't left yet."  She shook her head.  "She isn't your TARDIS.  Technically, she never was.  And the person who could have given her to you is dead, Valeyard.  Dead.  I miss him terribly and while you look like him you keep proving to me that you aren't him."

"Indeed, and unlike him, I have no problem with saying this -- you managed to fix this bucket of bolts because I let you... but there is a secondary relay that if I push this..." He took out a remote with his other hand from a pocket inside his suit jacket.  "... it causes all the power to fail.  We fall out of the sky and we all die, right here, right now.  Unless you not only show me where the TARDIS is, but everyone on here to evacuate them because only you can at that point."

Jack looked at the Doctor, gripping the rail and then looking out at the massive windows overlooking the already deserted, and evacuated, promenade.  Station security had already made sure all civilians were safely out of firing range.  She followed his glance with the corner of her eye, keeping both eyes squarely on the Valeyard.

The idea of Jack's connected in her mind, and it did in Ianto's as Ianto turned, hooked his knee on the opposite rail, bracing with the other leg as he pulled out his gun, remembering her former warning...

 _"One shot into a bulkhead you'll be out in space with him."_

... Ianto never wasted his breath on words, that would have given him too much warning, he simply pulled the trigger and emptied his clip into the window.  He focused all his fire into one area, weakening it and then, finally, the pressure on the window did the rest as the cracks snaked out in all directions.

The Valeyard realized what happened all too slowly, dropped his own gun and the remote device in order to grab a hold of something, anything, to stop what was coming.

The glass shattered and the vacuum of space sucked everything not secured down out.  The Doctor grasped the rail as hard as she could, as did Cole and Kelin, their legs stretched out as the pull of space sucked the air out of their lungs and the heat out, as well.

There was a scream, and the Doctor watched in horror as the Valeyard tried to grasp the rail, but he was seconds too slow.  He was too far away for her to grab his hand, but she reached for him, shouting her grandfather's name in Gallifreyan as the Valeyard was sucked outside into the space... his body slowly cartwheeling and free falling outside in the field of blue.

The station's safeties kicked in, and everything fell to the floor as humans and Vinvocci, and the lone Time Lord, sucked in breath in relief.  The Doctor, Ianto and Jack looked in horror as the figure faded into the distance, lost in the endless blue.

Then there was a flash of light and the shadow was gone.

Jack blinked, then checked his wrist.  "Fuck me... he's got my Vortex Manipulator."

They looked outside.  "He could be anywhere now," said Ianto.

"Thankfully, not any when," said Jack.  "Never did get that part up and running.  Just the teleportation."

The Doctor closed her eyes, then looked back outside.  Her expression was far away, as were her senses.  She couldn't sense him anymore.  That didn't mean he was dead.

It just meant he was too far out of her range.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT CHAPTER  
> 10 - **_HOTEL CALIFORNIA_**  
>  A semi-song fic episode based on the famous Eagles song of the same name. The TARDIS team ends up in California during the 1960's. They learn of a hotel that people check into, and then mysteriously disappear from. Are they next?
> 
>  _PLUS, in time for May..._
> 
> The special at the end of this (after the "13" chapters/episodes of the regular fan season are done) will be;
> 
>  ** _MAY DAY_**  
>  The Doctor is called to a factory where something "strange" is suspected by both Torchwood & UNIT. It becomes obvious that she cannot send her usual help in as another, former, companion already works there as a temp - no other than Donna Noble. Can the Doctor deal with the alien threat while keeping Donna from remembering her life in the TARDIS?


	10. Hotel California

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A semi-song fic episode based on the famous Eagles song of the same name. The TARDIS team ends up in California during the 1960's. They learn of a hotel that people check into, and then mysteriously disappear from. Are they next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _I would have added a special tribute to Elizabeth Sladen (aka: Sarah Jane Smith), but it wouldn't have fit in with this chapter. So I'll add it outside the chapter._
> 
>  _She was my husband's favourite, childhood, Companion and, ironically, his first Companion as my husband grew up on the 4th Doctor's run. She was still, once I'd been introduced to her in New Who, my favourite as well._
> 
>  _Good bye, Sarah Jane Smith._

_On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair  
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air  
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light  
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim  
I had to stop for the night  
There she stood in the doorway;  
I heard the mission bell  
And I was thinking to myself,  
'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'  
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way  
There were voices down the corridor,  
I thought I heard them say..._

 _Welcome to the Hotel California  
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)  
Such a lovely face  
Plenty of room at the Hotel California  
Any time of year (Any time of year)  
You can find it here_

* * * * * * * * * *

The TARDIS landed with its typical wheeze and groan, and the doors were flung open by Jack who looked outside, grinning as he did so.  The hot sun warmed his face and he closed the doors again, ran to the console where the Doctor was and asked, "Seriously?  Here?  During the sixties and when the beaches were legendary?"

"What's wrong with the beaches in our time?" asked Ianto, his brow crinkling in confusion.  "They certainly get enough tourists and there are enough commercials..."

"But this is the height of rock and roll.  Californian Dreamin', the golden era of the beach and California girls," stressed Jack.  "Little itty bitty bikinis..."

He eyed the Doctor with an appraising eye.  "Don't even think it, Jack, because it isn't happening," she responded to his unspoken question.  "Not even if it has polka dots."

This got a snort and a chuckle from Ianto as he listened to her exchange.  "So..." began Jack.  "Are we going to spend this Californian sun in here or are we actually going out there to be in it?"

"Gallifreyan skin is actually quite sun sensitive... which is why you never saw my grandfather outside of anything less than a few layers and with his sleeves always as long as possible," she said, holding a straight face.  "And sometimes with ridiculous hats.  I think I'll pass."

Ianto looked at her quizzically, but caught on to her jesting quickly.  "Oh yes, it's a little known fact that despite their two suns the Time Lords had that dome over the Citadel on Gallifrey because it was a giant sun shield to protect them from the sunlight," said Ianto, as evenly as he always answered things.

Jack seemed to swallow it.  He usually wasn't so easy to trick - he wasn't gullible by any stretch of the imagination - but she knew it was because he literally knew next to nothing about Time Lords or Gallifrey and therefore had to take her cues on it like he had her grandfather's.  He nodded, then looked at Ianto.  "Well, what about you?  I know you like sun as much as the next person and this is California - the sun capitol of the world!  Not to mention beaches.  And sand.  And the ocean breezes..."

"I think I too will pass.  I have having memories of that last time I went to the beach and got sunburn on my nose so bad I peeled for a week," answered Ianto.  "Not to mention I look absolutely stupid in a bathing suit, and I am not wearing what they wore during this time period either."

For a long moment, Jack could only stare at the two of them in shock.  "It's not any fun alone!" he protested, and then the Doctor laughed first.  "Oh, you two... okay... you got me.  Let me guess, Gallifreyan skin isn't as sun sensitive as a humans?"

"No, actually, I was telling the truth about that... stretching it certainly, but telling the truth.  Time Lords don't tan, they burn and do so very quickly.  We aren't susceptible to heat stroke like humans... well... not as much," she answered.  "We can withstand a whole lot more, but eventually dehydration and heat will do us in much the same way."

Jack looked at Ianto, who sighed.  "No way... I may have gone along with her on her bit, but I wasn't stretching on mine," Ianto pointed out.  "And I am most certainly not getting into this time period's version of a bathing suit."

"It's fortunate then that I picked a more secluded spot.  There will still be swimmers and likely surfers, but not near as many as there would be," said the Doctor.  "And there is plenty of suits in the wardrobe.  I think I'll go pick out a suit."  Jack opened his mouth.  "And no, it won't be a bikini.  If I'm going to be in the sun, I'm not getting burned any more than I have to."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

Jack was already in the water, as was Ianto, when she finally came out of the TARDIS.  She was wearing the same bathing suit that she had been wearing for that swim in the Library's pool right before the TARDIS had landed in Cardiff... and they had regained Ianto through her interference.

Screw that.

She could remember, distinctly, even though she had never actually heard the words pass his lips the clear statement as he spoke the very words to Amy and Rory.

 _Time can be rewritten._

And so she did, but had she really?  Sometimes, it wasn't so much as the rewriting of time - which happened so much more often than some would think - it was the correcting of that time to what should have happened if time's guardians had been there to keep watch.  But now those few were dead, and so much changed in the blink of an eye when it should not have happened.

Time was literally a mess, and it was getting harder and harder to keep sorted.  It was actually a full time career keeping it sorted.  She remembered, so long ago, when her grandfather and her had run away.  Renegades.  Fugitives from their own, once they had been found out.  Eventually they had caught up with her grandfather, stripped his real name from him and then forced him to use the name he had called himself as his own name instead of his own, let alone the forced regeneration and exile to Earth.

That had been the worst.

Stripping a Time Lord of his, or her, name was essentially making them dead to the rest of their society.  Yes, while they did have multiple stages of names depending on stage of life, their true, original name was something that never changed and then was only used in the utmost of seriousness, or among family... lovers... husbands and wives.  For all other times a more public, and adult, name was used.

Her grandfather had been stripped of his true name, and the adult name he was chosen became his only name.  While he was a Time Lord, if renegade, having a single name made him an exile and less of a real Time Lord in the eyes of the others.  Worse yet, they never used his adult name, a variation on his real name, but the title the humans had given him - the Doctor.

She felt, considering she had his memories and his feelings, the burning anger and resentment that came up in her throat, as well as the deep sorrow.

Years, no... centuries... later he had returned, ran for Lord President of Gallifrey.

Won it.

Ironic, that.

He'd been awarded his name back, but, in pride and more than a bit of pique he'd never used it again and out of spite towards his own people continued to use the human given name, which wasn't a name, of the Doctor from then on.

Even after the spite, and the anger, and the resentment had faded away in his twin hearts the name had simply stuck like an affectionate nickname for an old friend.  The Time Lords had simply translated it into their own language and continued to use it, adopting his nickname and simply making it Gallifreyan - melding the two together into something else entirely.  In essence, he had renamed himself with a name that suited him far more than his original.

She had not noticed when Jack had come up, touching her elbow to shake her out of her sudden brood.  "If you don't want to do this, you know, you don't have to," he said softly.

"It's not that," she answered.  "Just... sometimes... I'm not sure whose memories or feelings I am feeling... and other times I know."

"Like now?" he asked.

"Like now," she answered.  "I was feeling dual feelings.  His and mine, and then they were both the same but yet not.  Something I remembered as me connected to something of his and the feelings on both were so very strong."

Jack blinked.  "He's really, truly, you as well, isn't he?" asked Jack in wonder.

"It's... difficult to explain..." she began.  "But yes, more than just memories were transferred.  And lately, they've been getting stronger and more insistent."

"Any idea why?" asked Ianto as he walked up to them.

"I don't know.  It's... it's like he's trying to tell me something."

"How can he?" asked Jack gently.  "If he's dead?"

She looked down at the ground.  "Jack.  I haven't been... completely... honest with you."

Ianto and Jack looked at each other.  "How so?" asked Jack.

"When a Time Lord dies, for the final time... usually... their memories are stored in something called the Matrix.  The Matrix used to be on Gallifrey, in fact, there was a direct link between it and the Eye of Harmony."

"What does a movie..."

"That movie has nothing to do with this, and quite frankly, we are dealing with a concept older than that movie!" the Doctor shouted sharply, before she put a hand to her head, fingers on the bridge of her nose.  "Sorry, Ianto, you didn't deserve that."

"It's all right, I get why you're jumpy," said Ianto.  "Anyway, continue..."

"Now is not the time for this."  She smiled.  "He's was an impossibility, I'll leave it at that."

"He always was," said Jack, then he looked out to the beach.  "Suddenly this doesn't look near as fun as it did."

"Don't let my brooding affect it, Jack," said the Doctor.  "I'm old as well... and a Time Lord.  We're a serious, stuffy bunch with no sense of fun at all."

Jack dragged her from the TARDIS and onto the beach.  She let her toes sink into the really hot sand and she sighed.  She had to admit the sand felt so good between her toes.  "Well, enough of that.  Now we enjoy ourselves.  For once.  You know... a real..."

But then Ianto noticed something else had caught her attention - while she was paying attention to Jack with one ear, he knew that she was also listening to something else.  There were others on the beach, and down the beach farther and nearer to the road, this couple seemed to be having a rather animated conversation.  Ianto followed her gaze and he crinkled his brows.  Jack was still regaling the Doctor, and Ianto, about the vast difference between California beaches and ocean to anywhere else.  However, the Doctor was listening to the argument further up the beach.

Ianto couldn't hear them.

But Time Lords could hear far better than a human could, and he had no doubt that she could hear them.  Maybe not clearly, but definitely hear bits and pieces of the conversation.  Jack clued in that he had lost their attention and followed their gaze with a sigh.  "So much for the vacation," he murmured, disappointed.

Not that he had lost their attention, but mostly because after the last run in he knew she was emotionally exhausted, and perhaps physically as well.  He knew he was.

Any run in with the Valeyard was enough to do that and being held hostage by the clone of Ten was... well... Jack would rather not think about that.  He tried to get her to at least relax but it seemed that in the usual fashion trouble was about to find them.  The only thing he sincerely hoped was that it was of the quick and over with kind so that he could get her to nap on a beach towel on warm sand and perhaps get a sun-kissed tan on those long legs to show for the time off.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He wants to stay the night at a hotel up the road," answered the Doctor.  "She doesn't want to - it creeps her out.  He maintains there's nothing wrong with it and her imagination.  I can sense the fear and uneasiness in her from here.  There's something off about that hotel."

Jack grinned.

Creepy, perhaps haunted, hotel that ends up being aliens.  Obviously no major disappearances or the police would be involved... maybe the army and the all too real Area 51...  and therefore not that harmful.  He knew that there was a fifty-fifty chance of them being very subtle, and very threatening and deadly, from working with Torchwood but there was the equal chance of it being entirely innocent.

Aliens... trying to blend in but not quite succeeding and therefore giving humans the creeped out feeling but little else.

If it was the latter, the Doctor could step in, use her not-quite-human and very alien nature to smooth over relations, perhaps help them mix in a bit better or send them packing peacefully.  Open and shut - and back to the beach.

However...

"Do you want to check it out?" slipped out of Jack's mouth before he could stop himself.

The Doctor turned to him with a grin.  "I was hoping you'd say that."

* * * * * * * *

The couple were in the middle of a rather animated argument.  Jay was trying to get his wife, Dannie, to at least think about heading to the hotel, but so far she had remained adamant that she found it creepy, to say the least.  "Oh come on, it's the only hotel around here!" he exclaimed.

"I don't care, we'll keep driving until we find another one," she maintained.  "I can't... it's just weird."

"Oh come on, it's well maintained, practically new..." he trailed off as he saw the trio come up to them, and the petite foreign woman leaned against the rail.

Dannie turned and looked.  The one man, in trunks, was... to say the least he was very, very easy on the eyes and had this easy manner about him.  The other man held himself stiffly, and was dressed casually in pants and a shirt.  Dannie immediately pegged him as the preppy, "Beverly Hills" type.  The woman was in a plain, but well cut and obviously very expensive white bathing suit with a white floral lace sarong, her hair cut short, but in a way that showed off the fact that her dark hair had the tendency to curl dramatically.  It made her face look almost pixie like, and added to the exotic light olive hue of her skin.  _She could be Hispanic... or Middle-Eastern..._ thought Dannie  She couldn't be sure, it wasn't obvious or easy to tell.  There was just this something... foreign... about her.  Alien.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," said the woman as her hazel eyes flicked from one to the other.

"From clear across the beach?" asked Jay.  "I knew we were being, um, animated but I didn't think we were that loud."

Dannie knew they hadn't been, and the same sense that had steered her clear of the hotel was also being twigged by the three people.  "We weren't that loud," said Dannie softly, stepping back and behind Jay.

Jay picked up on it.  Dannie had this almost unnatural ability to tell the nature of people within seconds of laying eyes on them.  It was almost a sixth sense that he had learned to respect.  Sometimes it could be on overdrive, such as with the hotel, but never with people.  She wasn't telling them to leave yet, but there was something clearly not right about this.

"I mean no harm," the woman smiled, disarmingly.  "In fact, I may mean a whole lot of good.  It's... what I do."

Dannie lifted a brow.  That had to be the most honest thing she had heard so far, if cryptic.  "She's telling the truth on that," she said to Jay.

Jay relaxed, and then explained, "There's this fantastic hotel up the road a bit."  He pointed and the the trio looked, then looked back to him.  "It looks like one of those classic style Mexican cantina things you see in the Westerns, like it's been there forever, only..."

"It's too new," said Dannie  "Which, really, with all those concrete treatments you can do nowadays means nothing really, but there's something else off about it."

"Like what?" asked the woman, and Dannie was taken aback by how seriously she was being taken by a stranger.

"I can't put my finger on it, it's just off.  I feel..."

The woman nodded encouragingly.  "You know that feeling of pins and needles you get after accidentally putting a limb to sleep? And then the feeling comes back and it's all those pins and needles?" asked Dannie, and at the woman's understanding nod.  "It's like that, only in my mind."

The woman's gaze was sharp, and they locked eyes.  For a long moment, Dannie felt time itself stretch out and stop and then speed up at the same time.  It didn't make any sense, but at the same time she could feel the very turn of the Earth.  She looked away and the feeling left Dannie like she had run a marathon - all breathless and suddenly like the rug had been pulled out from under her.  Dannie knew this mysterious woman knew exactly what Dannie was talking about - only the pins and needles feeling was far more to her - it was likely...

... and then she understood.

What was that pins and needles was just that - walking into the hotel had been like feeling returning to a sleeping arm, only on a different sense.  It had awakened something in Dannie, something this woman dealt with every day and was so used to it that it was like having a spare sense and limb at the same time.  While Dannie's budding ability was still mostly dormant, hers was trained.

"Interesting," was the only thing the woman said.  "Jack, Ianto, come on... back to the TARDIS."

Jay and Dannie blinked as the three strangers walked away, but didn't make any move to follow.

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * * *

"So, what was that about?" asked Jack as they walked into the TARDIS.

"Dannie is a latent psychic," she answered, and noted both Ianto and Jack's surprise.  "What?  It's rare, but not that rare for a human.  The more you humans grow and evolve, the more your brains grow and evolve with you, as does your potential.  Right now, it's rare... perhaps only zero point two percent of the overall human population of Earth can touch their ability, but a staggering three percent are latently psychic and need the right push to be able to touch their abilities.  In fact, in a way, all of you are - but some have less blocks preventing their latent abilities from showing themselves."

"So I'm psychic, to some extent, but through some trick of birth I just have more blocks in the road to using that ability?" asked Ianto.

"Yes, but the more time you spend with people who can use it, and do, the smaller those blocks will grow to be until your latent ability will show itself," answered the Doctor.  "Which is why, I think, my grandfather often would only spend so much time around specific humans - to spend too much time around one specific human could awaken their ability far beyond when it should be.  I also think he was more attracted by their abilities.  The more aware the more likely he would not so randomly find them, or they found him.  That was never quite clear.  Anyway, we should be more concerned about this hotel that is giving a latent psychic the creeps... and awakening her abilities at the same time."

She walked around the console, looking at the various screens before she scrolled back up a list on one.  With a grin she exclaimed.  "Perfect!  Sometimes I'm thankful that he was such a pack-rat... that will be useful."

"What will?" asked Jack.

"Wait outside and you'll see."

* * * * * * * * *

Jack and Ianto waited outside the TARDIS when things seemed to waffle a bit in reality.  It left them both feeling a bit queasy, and they leaned against the suddenly too smooth surface of the TARDIS, which wasn't at all blue... or wooden...

They didn't see the doors open, but they heard the sound of the well-tuned, internal combustion engine of a rather large and mean sounding car.

A few seconds later, the blue wooden sides were back to normal, and when they looked around the corner, the Doctor climbed out of the driver's side which was, for the area they were in, on the proper side for North America and not Europe.

Ianto felt his jaw drop and he smiled in amusement.  Actually, that car was not the Doctor's.  It was Autumn's, and he remembered it from one misadventure in North Carolina when she had to nick it to get them back to the TARDIS.  While it had been a classic in that time period, in this one it fit right in as a brand new car.

Jack ran his hand along the beautifully restored dark red paint and along the black leather canopy of the '64 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442.  "He had really good taste in American muscle cars.  I thought it was a GTO until I saw the Olds insignia on the front."

"It's actually Autumn's," corrected Ianto, smiling from the memory.  "And she got it in 1992... had to, ah... nick it to get away from some over enthusiastic CIA."

"That explains the restored look versus the original look," said the Doctor.  "And it was hers... that would explain why my grandfather never knew it was in the TARDIS hanger bay."

"She always meant to return it, but then things happened... and then Jack tried to retcon her and she left Earth," said Ianto, looking at Jack with a raised brow.

"Oops?" said Jack.  "I'd say nicking things runs in your family.  First she nicks a 442, then her son nicks her TARDIS..."

"That's the only time anyone in my family has nicked anything," answered the Doctor.  "Well, it could be argued that my great-uncle nicked libraries, but that's neither here nor there.  Anyway, shall we?"

It was at this point that they noticed she had taken the time to dress to match the time period.  "Give us a second," said Jack as he dragged Ianto into the TARDIS and back to the wardrobe.

Ten minutes later, they came back out, also dressed to fit in the time period, matching her style which was casual but semi-glamourous, meant to give the idea of being 'in the money' but relaxed.  Jack and Ianto also carried out three suitcases and loaded them into the trunk so that they wouldn't stand out any more than they were.  With one last check, as the Doctor made sure she had the psychic paper, as well as a wallet with necessary credit and actual money and her sonic screwdriver, Jack locked the TARDIS and they climbed into the car.

She drove, and as they left the gravel side, the sheer power at the wheels threw up gravel and sand as it sped away, up the road and towards the hotel.

* * * * * * * *

It was not difficult to find the hotel that Dannie had been talking about.  It did stand out a bit.  It had been built to look old, but it was too clean, and the adobe walls too perfect like they had been machined to look good.  It looked great, but too much like a hotel in their own time.  Made to look old but using materials too modern, or the facade was too new.

The garden surrounding it also seemed too well kept.

It was beautiful, perfect.  Definitely five star.

But too good to be true.

"Well, it could be nothing," said Ianto.  "Someone a bit ahead of their time in making themed hotels for tourists.  It's obviously a tourist trap - that much is certain.  But it's promising for those looking for something upscale.  The dead give away that something isn't right is the fact that it is too far away from the interstate and too far away from any settlements."

"It raises an eyebrow, that is for sure," said Jack.  "However, a bit of devil's advocacy, someone may have been wandering the beaches around here and saw the potential... has a bit of a plan for the area to make it into something more and this is a test run."

"A reasonably explanation as any," agreed the Doctor.  "It could be innocent, or it might be something else.  You never know.  But the whole twigging a latent psychic says something else, but again... perhaps it was another guest that tripped Dannie's senses.  All else fails, it makes for a nice vacation spot and we're out some time in a five star hotel.  I've encountered far worse outcomes."

Upon stepping out of the car, a young man came up to them.  "Can I take your bags, Madam?"

The Doctor looked him up and down.  He was in the hotel's uniform, and it was well kept and tailored to fit.  An ID card identified him.  That sent her suspicions up a notch.  ID cards were... somewhat anachronistic in this time period, and didn't find widespread use until the late eighties in a major city, and not until the nineties across most nations.  It was rather odd to find it in the mid sixties and in the middle of nowhere.  "Of course, they're in the boot."

For a second he looked a bit confused, and she sighed.  "I mean they're in the trunk."

He went to the trunk and she opened it, using the key in the keyhole in the trunk instead of the very out of place electronic switch.  He picked out the three suitcases, put them on a luggage trolley and rolled them into the lobby with her, Jack, and Ianto following as she left her secondary set - the ones without the electronic remote - with the valet.

Everything was made to look Spanish, and of the period when Spain still held Mexico.  It was lavish and well kept, the rugs clean and bright and the furniture shone brightly in the Californian sun.  Every last detail had been seen to, right down to the artwork and paintings of both the most picturesque places in Mexico and of Spain.  "It's gorgeous," said Jack, with a smile.  "Definitely five star."

"Indeed," she agreed with a sigh.  "Anyone not educated in temporal signatures, or those of this time period, would not see the obvious hints of things out of place, however."

"Yeah, I saw those too," said Ianto.  "Didn't think ID cards were used until the late nineties with all that fear of identity theft and the such."

The Doctor nodded.  "Well, let's not let the valet lose sight of us."

She walked up the next two steps and around the corner where he was waiting at the front desk.  The man behind the desk was Hispanic, and his hair combed back.  His suit was also well made and tailored to fit.  "Ah, Senora, welcome to the Hotel California."

The Doctor heard both Jack and Ianto choke back a chortle, and she silenced them with a half-hearted, as she was also very amused by this, glare.  "Thank you, it's very lovely.  I couldn't believe it when I saw this place... and so far off the beaten track."

"Ah yes, the owner has always dreamed of making her favourite beach the favourite of more people," he said, the unspoken, And preferably people with money, was fairly obvious in his tone.  "Ah... what will you need to rent from us?  A room for two and another for one?"

"If you have suites, your best one," she answered.  "Two rooms definitely if you do not, and connected by a door between."

"We have both, I'd imagine the Senora would prefer the former?  Yes, yes, she would... I can see she is a woman of exquisite tastes," he answered himself with a nod as he wrote this in a book and then turned to, and at least this was in keeping with the times, a board with keys hanging on hooks.  "Here we are, the Presidential Suite.  Marco will take you."

"Thank you, Senor," said the Doctor as the same valet led them down the hall.

The hotel was in wings, and only one wing had more than one floor.  She realized it was this one that they were being led to.  There was a scent in the air, a lovely one, but one she was having trouble identifying because it was being cunningly masked by the smell of the flowers in the garden within the courtyard.  They stood in the elevator, and for a moment, she felt as if her senses... all of them... were being overwhelmed.  Just as quickly it was gone.

The Doctor looked over at Jack and Ianto.  Jack looked a bit puzzled, but Ianto looked a bit... too relaxed now that she looked close.  "Ianto?" she asked.

It took him a moment to answer, but then he was back to normal.  "Yes?" he asked.

"Nothing..." she said, a bit suspicious, but as the elevator opened and they were led to their room she didn't see anything else out of place.

The valet took her key and opened the door, setting their cases on the floor just inside the door, before he handed her the key and stood for a second.  Ianto immediately picked up on what he was looking for and, from the wallet she had taken from the TARDIS, handed him a few of the bills.  He tipped his head and left the suite, the door clicking gently closed.

Almost immediately, she felt as if she had to sit down.  Jack and Ianto were already sitting on a couch and in a plush chair and both were already snoring.  She found herself half sitting, half laying on a divan.  Something isn't right... she tried to fight off the sensation and then couldn't anymore.  Her eyes slid shut and she knew no more.

* * * * * * * * *

Waking was slow, almost painful.  And confusing.  But not.  He opened his eyes and knew that he shouldn't be, but at the same time it felt right.  Almost correct.  For the life of him he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't be.

Jack was the next to awaken and for a long moment the two men stared at each other.  Jack rubbed his eyes.

And then he shook Ianto awake.

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * * *

The three men stared at each other and for a very long moment there was an awkward silence.  "Who the hell are you?" demanded Jack.

"Jack... right... I was travelling with you wasn't I?" said the Doctor suddenly as he stood, and wobbled for a moment, staring at what he was wearing before sitting back down again, his hand going to his head.  "What the hell did I drink to leave that for a buzz?"

"I don't believe it," breathed Jack.  "It is you, isn't it.  Really, truly is?"

"Where's Susan?" asked the Doctor, standing again.  "Something is not right about this at all, is it?  It's not me who is supposed to be here, then why am I?  How is this possible?"

"I..." Ianto was in wordless shock.

Then again so was Jack.  He didn't know what to make of the sudden reappearance of the original, the true, Doctor even if in a later incarnation.

The Doctor looked in the mirror.  "At least it's the same version of me that I remember."

Jack took in the strange Doctor.  He was tall, silver haired cropped short but not as short as the Northern accented one.  This wore the same style of black jeans, the same boots, but the upper part was different again.  He wore a collared off silver blue dress shirt, which was left open and casual at the neck, covered by a black jumper style knit sweater and a dark tweed jacket.  There was no tie and the dress shirt was left open and casual at the neck.  He was tall, and he had the same ice blue eyes as the first Doctor Jack had ever met.  Over this he wore a mid length jacket.  It wasn't leather, but a very dark stone grey.

He was easily the best dressed of all the Doctors Jack had met, as well as the most... well... each one had their draw but he found he liked the mature and understated business casual of this Doctor the most.  "Which version is that?" asked Ianto, as he regained his voice.

The Doctor frowned.  "My last, unfortunately, but you knew that.  What other one could I be if I am here and Susan is not?"

"You're Thirteen," breathed Jack, his eyes widening, and the Doctor smiled sadly.

"Exactly," answered the Doctor.

* * * * * * * * *

Tea had arrived, and been served, before they all sat down at the table on the patio just outside their suite.  "The only conclusion for this is that I am not actually here," said the Doctor.  "Which makes this, likely, a dream.  I have encountered this before but I must admit it was not to this detail."

Jack still couldn't take his eyes off this Doctor.  He was, in a word, gorgeous.  Even Ianto couldn't help but throw glances his way.  He didn't have a Northern accent, but it was a cultured one, and an interesting cross between Fourteen's Canadian accent (which was Susan) and a posher English accent.  He was the same height and build as Nine.  "What?" asked the Doctor, exasperated.

"I wish I met this you when you were..." Jack trailed off.

The Doctor smiled sadly.  "I wish you hadn't.  I got tired of being mistaken for a rather famous actor from the back.  Every where I went, people would think I was Daniel Craig, if I was in the right time period.  Who ever that is. Thankfully, the TARDIS didn't land me in that time period often."

"You sound kinda like him too," said Jack, grinning, suddenly making the connection.  "And yes, you do have this striking resemblance to him.  Enough to be mistaken for him until up close."

"That's... strange... " drawled out the Doctor, before he waved it off and dismissed the subject.

"What if it's not a dream?" asked Ianto.

Jack and the Doctor looked over at Ianto, the latter blinking in surprise as if the possibility had not occurred to him.  "Why would it not be?" asked the Doctor.

"Well, what if... by some happenstance... you are truly here?"

"Then where is my granddaughter?" asked the Doctor, shaking his head.  "If I'm here and she is not then we have switched places, or I came to be here by some way I don't remember and she was taken.  But you have a point.  We'll have to keep those in mind as possibilities."

* * * * * * * * *

Susan opened her eyes, and then sat up.  She was still in the same suite, but there was no sign of Jack or Ianto.  Judging by the dark outside, it was now well on into night.  She blinked, suddenly realizing that she was without her time sense.  It was an odd and disorienting feeling and one she would rather be without.

The second thing she realized was that the ever present memories of her grandfather were distant and in a murk.  It was as if he was no longer within her mind like he had been before - she could access his side of the memories they shared, but not much else.

Susan walked to the patio deck outside the suite and stopped dead in her tracks.

She looked behind her.

It was the same hotel, same suite, same everything that she, Jack and Ianto had checked into.  Blinking, she looked back out into the courtyard garden, turning slowly.  She was... it couldn't be.  It shouldn't be.  But yet it was.  With her eyes wide open she looked around, breathing quickly and almost hyperventilating.  Any second now her respiratory bypass would kick in as the hyperventilating robbed her lungs of any real air.

The trees were silver-leaved, their trunks also silver cast but dark red and brown.  The flowers were large, complex.  The grass... oh sweet Rassilon it couldn't be... the grass was red.

She looked up and in the sky was the dual suns, the moons... Susan knew this view.

Had grown up with this view.

It was impossible.  A trick.  It had to be.

But she could smell the grass - that musk and perfume so unlike the grass of Earth, a richness like incense.  Something she couldn't be seeing.

It was Gallifrey - the lost... _destroyed_... home world of the Time Lords.

* * * * * * * * *

Jack sat down heavily on the couch, and he seemed to swoon as Ianto watched.  The strange feeling washed over him again, and for a long moment Jack seemed almost blurred.  There was a humming sound and then, when he blinked.  It was the same suite as before but Jack and the Doctor were gone.  "I must have fallen asleep," he murmured as he stood up.

"What's the matter, dear?" asked Lisa as she walked in from the other room, towel drying her hair.

Ianto went still in shock, even as, for some reason, he couldn't' come up with a reason why he should feel so shocked.

Already, it felt like what he had woken from was a very deep dream, and it was fading quickly.  Instinct shouted at him of how wrong it was for that to happen, but that too soon faded.  "You look terrible, are you sure you don't want another kip, Ianto?" asked Lisa.

"I... uh... no, I suppose not," said Ianto, rubbing his eyes.  "Does anything seem strange to you?"

"No?  Why?" asked Lisa.

"No reason," he said as he ran a hand through his hair.  "Had the strangest dream."

"You always do," she said.  "C'mon, they're practically giving away the margaritas on the patio and I for one don't want to miss them.

* * * * * * * * *

Three people lay on beds, which were little more than couches meant for sleeping.  They were an interesting cross between infirmary bed and pod-like cocoon.  It wasn't very alien, although, and had actually come from a local furniture store than specialized in the trendy and modern styles of furniture.

The human woman was pale, but had the look of someone who might have been far more tan than she was now.  Every so often she would walk between the beds, touching the foreheads of the people on the beds.

These three who had checked in were unlike the others - they had almost seen through the illusion she had woven around the rundown cantina... or had seen it as far too new... either way... she knew by the fact that they had been faintly disbelieving before stepping foot into the cantina that they were different.

None so much as the woman which seemed to throw off not one but two separate signatures.  She was intoxicating to touch, and her own senses screamed for more.

The one with the sideburns was easily molded.

The third, the man... well... he had been easily put to sleep but was too confusing and her senses didn't take well to his.  It was like touching something dead but something all too alive at the same time.

The pale woman turned back to the small one on the bed.  She could feel a strange, double heartbeat, and she was concerned.  

It wouldn't do to lose this one so soon.

She looked up as her senses picked up more signatures coming in.  Ah, a small Volkswagen 'bus'.  Artisty, musical types.  They were a joy to have around, and had the best dreams.

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * * *

Susan walked back into the suite and sat down, her mind thinking at a million miles per second.  It was impossible that the hotel had miraculously found itself on a per-destruction... and hence pre-war... Gallifrey.

Therefore she was not on Gallifrey, but still in the sixties and still in California.  Still in her room.  Jack and Ianto were not here.

 _Then again_ , she realized.  _Why would they be?_

She was _dreaming_ a waking dream.  Hallucination?  Had there been something in the air that could affect a Gallifreyan?  That was rare, and usually only found on Gallifrey.  And then, to combine the difficulty level of drugging even a Gallifreyan, all of them were born with the respiratory bypass, which always kicked in and took over in the fraction of a breath and often before consciously realizing the threat was airborne - such as drugged gases or incense - or there was a lack of air, such as drowning or the vacuum of space.  In Time Lords that instinct was taken to another level as the Time Lord was trained to control what would normally be an unconscious and instinctive ability.

Whatever had managed to sneak past, if it had been the... of course the incense from before!  That smell she could not identify because it had been masked by the floral of the garden.  But, in detecting it her respiratory bypass should have kicked in, and warned her of the danger.

It had not.

Which meant the drug had already been in her system by then, and therefore more of it was not seen as a threat.

When did it start?

She racked her brain, straining to remember every little bit from leaving the TARDIS until now.

Drugs could also begin to enter the bloodstream through touch, or the mucus membranes in the eyes, the nose, and even the mouth when one opened to eat or to drink.  Or in food and water.  It could have entered the bloodstream through a cut, even a small one.

This depended on the cunning of the person doing the drugging; layering the drug through all methods was a sure way to ensure the target wouldn't know what hit them until it was too late and it was often enough to overwhelm even a Time Lord's best defenses against an unwanted drug.  It would literally come from too many directions for her to counteract before one slipped past and did what it was designed to do, or befuddled the senses enough for the rest to finish the job.

Someone had done their homework.  Maybe they hadn't planned on encountered a Time Lord, but they definitely wanted to be sure that when someone walked into their trap that they weren't walking back out again.

Susan stood up, and, because she knew she was within her own mind she could literally see the swirl of energy around her gather as she stated, with as much mental determination as she could muster, "This is a dream.  _Wake up._ "

The suite, and Gallifrey that surrounded it, vanished.

And she opened her eyes, looked around and saw a door in the farthest part of the room, which swam rather nauseatingly, close as someone ran through it.  The Doctor sat up, trying not to throw up at the same time.  Dammit she hated being sedated.  Thankfully, there was only one inter-venous, and her own senses told it was a simple saline and nutrient drip, meant to simply keep the victim hydrated and reasonably healthy.  The Doctor carefully removed it before gingerly sliding off the bed.

There were two other occupied beds.  Jack and Ianto.

The Doctor walked over to them, and looked down in dismay.

It wasn't Jack or Ianto.

* * * * * * * * *

Ianto lay on the wicker recliner as Lisa did the same in the one beside him.  He was a bit sleepy but the sun's warmth was doing that.  The water in the pool lapped against the beautiful tile before an efficient system sucked away the water before it could soak into the carpet... or wreck the wood inlay... he was never sure...

Ianto opened his eyes.  They were still around the courtyard pool, but something wasn't right.  Instead of the hotel like he expected, he saw, almost as if by hazy mirage a library filled with books.  Another woman walked the upper levels, humming a tune that while this moment he could not, for the life of him, place his heart screamed that he did.

He looked over at Lisa to ask if she saw the same and recoiled in horror.

Instead of bathing suit, she was now half-machine, although she read her book, blithely unaware of the transformation.

He closed his eyes tightly, putting the palms of his hands to his eyes before taking them away and looking around again.

The hazy image of the library was gone, as was the Cyber-woman version of Lisa.  Lisa as he always knew her read her book, unaware of even his momentary crisis.

Cyber-woman.

Cybermen.

Torchwood... Canary Wharf.

He looked over, Lisa now laying limply, blood covering her converted body on a metal couch in a basement.

Ianto screamed and recoiled, his back impacting into something wooden and he looked up.

It was the TARDIS, and he felt the telepathic brush with his mind as Lisa faded and Autumn took her place, but she was so much older now, and dressed in a red robe as her world burned behind her... That image flipped back and forth to the younger her, as he remembered her to an older one in red robes, but the same dark hair was now either cut short or swept back, holding her hands to her face like some sort of play on a statue.

He leaned into the TARDIS and screamed, willing himself to wake from the nightmare that he had suddenly found himself in.

Just like that the world changed.  He was no longer leaning against the TARDIS, but laying on the same couch that he had collapsed into in the suite.  Across from him, slumped over and his mouth hanging open in slumber was Jack, although, miracles upon miracles, for some reason his sleep was undisturbed.

Ianto stood up shakily.  "Jack..." he started, but it was no louder than a whisper.  He licked his lips, and tried again, and thankfully this time it was at least beginning to resemble his normal voice.  "Jack!  Wake up!"

Jack blinked, closing his mouth as he then began to work his mouth in confusion.  Ianto could only imagine what Jack might have been dreaming.  Then again, he probably didn't want to know.  Jack blinked and then rubbed his face, looking at Ianto in confusion.  "It was a dream... like he said..."

"Who?" asked Ianto.

"The Doctor... Thirteen..." said Jack, standing up unsteadily.  "I woke up here to find him where the... Doctor!"

Jack and Ianto turned to where she had fallen asleep on the divan, only she was no where to be found.  "So, you had a dream conversation with the Doctor and I..." Ianto trailed off.

"You what?" asked Jack.

"...Nothing."  Ianto took a breath, also standing on slightly shaky legs.  "Is it me or is this 'suite' a whole lot shabbier than it was when we checked in?"

Jack looked around.  It was still a Mexican style hotel... but it was by far not five star.  It was a little run down, but still clean and neat.  It just wasn't luxurious.  Jack looked outside to the courtyard and found that there was no other part to the hotel - the courtyard was still walled in, yes, but now there was a simple wall.  Jack and Ianto blinked.  "Wow, that was some... trip" Ianto began but trailed off.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Where's the Doctor?"

"I was waking you to help me find her," said Jack.  "That worries me.  They left us and took her, but what did they want in the first place?  Did they know she was alien?  The organization here in the States isn't as pleasant as Torchwood, even when Yvonne was running it Torchwood was still far kinder to aliens than Area 51 and the Section Seven."

"I hardly think it was planned, if was them," said Ianto.  "This seems a bit too convenient, and then they would have to know we were coming in the first place, and we didn't even know we were coming here until we did.  However, I do think they will likely be on their way - it would only take a few cases like Jay and Dannie to attract their attention.  We should find the Doctor, sort whatever is happening and get out of here.  Now."

"In complete agreement there," Jack nodded as he pulled out a gun, checked it, and held it at the ready.  "She may not like guns, but I feel a whole lot better with one in my hand.  You?"

Ianto grinned as he pulled out his own.  "It would take more than her to stop me from carrying one."

* * * * * * * *

The Doctor shook the first man and then the other until they woke, and then helped to remove the IV drips.  "Whoa, that was one hell of a trip.  Who are you?" asked the first man.

"The Doctor?"

"Who?"

"Just the Doctor," answered the Doctor.

"Is this your place, Doctor?" asked the other man.

"No, I woke up a few minutes before you did and found myself in a similar predicament.  And you are?" she asked as she quickly checked them over before letting them stand up.

"Oh, we're roadies with this band..." they answered.  "Cool band.  Called the Eagles."

The Doctor stopped dead in her tracks, trying not to laugh.  "Of course you are," she answered.

 _The Doctor strikes again to make a mark on history_ , she mused.  It would figure that would be where the song came from.  "Do you remember anything else?"

"Nah, just this really fantastic bodacious babe, ya know?" said the second one.  "This is far out.  You think she'd sell this stuff?  It was a fantastic trip... better than LSD."

Oh good Rassilon, no.  The Doctor tried to stifle another chortle, but wasn't altogether successful.  "Somehow I don't think so," she answered.  "This isn't a pleasant trip - she made us prisoners.  Of our own minds, yes, but still prisoners.  For what I don't know, don't ask me yet, I'm still trying to figure that one out."

"Wild, you do this often, Doctor?" asked the other one.

"Unfortunately, yes," she answered as she tried the door, and it opened with no issues.  "Come on, let's get out of here..."

They walked out into the hallway and, for a long moment, they had to make sure that what they were seeing was actually what they were seeing.  "Hey, Doctor, this place seem more run down to you, or did you see the same five star hotel we did?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I saw the same illusion you did upon checking in, but the drugs and illusions are running down... and we are beginning to see the truth of the place," she answered.  "Come on, let's find that check in desk."

"Cool, cool," said the second one.

Finally they came to the desk and the three of them were shocked to find uniformed people, but they had been long dead... their bones showing through places in the loose skin.  The Doctor fought down the urge to gag, but the other two men were busily throwing up in the half-dead plants in the lobby.  Now everything seemed proper, the ID tags simple name tags, carved into plastic but not the ID cards like they had been.

"Was the whole thing a fantasy?" she wondered aloud.

"Doctor!" came a familiar voice and she turned to face it.

For a long moment it was like seeing a ghost, and she paled.  The vision of Thirteen faded and, when she blinked, it was Jack and Ianto running up to her.  Jack saw past her and the dead employees.  "Oh my God," said Ianto.  "Was anything real?"

"We need to find this owner, now," said the Doctor, before she turned to the two roadies.  "Run."

"Don't need to tell us twice... the pleasant trip all of a sudden isn't.  Thanks!" said the second one as the first one was already out the door.  "Listen, we're roadies, but the band... they checked in here too..."

"I'll find them," she promised.

"Thanks!" and then he was gone too.

She turned to Jack and Ianto, looking them over before pulling out the sonic and then a small pouch in which she took three disks, putting one under her tongue and instructing them to do the same.  Abruptly, any remaining traces of the drug was removed, and they staggered, pale faced and slightly green from the nearly instant detoxification of the tablets.

But at least their heads were much clearer.

"Beats the stop-gap method," she breathed as she gained her equilibrium back.

"If this wasn't stop-gap, don't want to know what the other way is like..." groaned Jack.

"Involves ginger, salty stuff and a shock... never pleasant..." she answered, standing up again, far more steady feeling than she had been.

Now that she was clear headed, she was aware of how not cleared headed she had been before.  "Now, let's find this owner."

"Doc, hate to say this, but we may not have much time," began Jack.  "There is this organization in the US called 'Section Seven', they're an odd bunch of scientists, US Army and CIA.  Not pleasant, if you catch my meaning... and they're the States' version of Torchwood."

"Great..." breathed the Doctor.

"This place may have already gained their attention," said Ianto.

"Are you suggesting I just leave?" she asked, in shock.

"At least concentrate on that promise you made, maybe the owner will be there with this band... and then once we save them we sort that.  Or she won't be.  Either way, let Section Seven sort it.  They catch you and you are not ever coming back out unless in pieces.  Torchwood liked their aliens alive to talk to - only once they died of natural causes or by whatever injuries gained in the crash in the first place did they poke around.  Section Seven won't wait.  I've seen them to do it," said Ianto urgently.  "They even upset Yvonne, think about that for a second.  She found them too disturbing!"

That gave the Doctor pause, and then she nodded.  "Fine, we find this hapless band and we get out before they get here.  I don't want them getting their hands on the TARDIS."

She turned, and using the sonic as a sensing device, she then said once she had found something, "There is signs of life this way - human life.  Let's start there."

They followed in silence, and, considering the bulk of the hotel had been illusionary it was not far to the door to the cellar, Jack felt he had to ask.  "How much of our dream was real?"

"Hard to say.  A lot of it drew on actual experiences.  Memories of real people and places, and what couldn't be filled by that was merely enhanced by what we imagined we needed to expect.  Why?" asked the Doctor.

"Because, in my dream, you had been replaced by... another you."  Jack looked at her and she actually stopped dead in her tracks to look back at him.  "Thirteen.  Granted, I could see if I was imagining it... after all you looked like Daniel Craig... straight out of Layer Cake and James Bond... but still... he was... you."

The Doctor sighed and turned her attention to the cellar door and trying to find a setting on her sonic screwdriver to open the lock.  "Grandfather did bear a certain resemblance to him in the end.  He quickly learned to avoid twenty first, and late twentieth, century Earth because of that.  It was a bit difficult to travel as the Doctor when people kept thinking you were someone else... attracted too much attention."

"You mean he did...?" asked Jack in shock.  "But I've never, ever, met him in his last incarnation."

"Jack... "  The Doctor looked from one to the other.  "It was a projection.  You wanted to see the Doctor, not me, to fix a situation.  Or the TARDIS somehow ramped up the connection between us to protect us from whatever this was.  Either way... there is something you need to know about Time Lords."

"What?" asked Ianto.

"A Time Lord has literally thousands of years, usually, but at least centuries upon centuries of memories, knowledge... let alone the Rassilon Imprimatur which unlocks the biological ability to regenerate.  When a Time Lord dies, that doesn't.  It needs to go somewhere.  It needs... a place to be stored.  It doesn't delete or dissipate into the universe like a human does, or another alien does.  A normal Gallifreyan would not have to worry about this - they, like humans, die.  Only when the Imprimatur is done to a Gallifreyan do they become a Time Lord, and once that's done... well..." the Doctor made a gesture with her hand to herself.  "Then what makes those myths you hear about in the universe at large about the Time Lords somewhat true.  They are, to an extent, very immortal but limited by the biological shell, and that shell while long lived, and engineered to be stronger, faster... longer lived... and then further tampered with by the Imprimatur to handle it."

Jack and Ianto stood there for awhile, listening, until Jack broke the silence.  "Are you telling us that the Time Lords are... genetically engineered?"

"Tampered with, if the Gallifreyan had not been able to handle it in the first place, the Time Lord would have never been.  A long time ago... a very, very long time ago... three Gallifreyans discovered this.  One discovered and cracked the mathematical code to allow time travel and access to the Time Vortex, another discovered and cracked the genetic code that allowed us to travel in it.  The third created the TARDIS.  The Omega, the Other... and Rassilon.  Those three created the Time Lords as we knew them.  But, it came with a price," she explained.  "That price was that even if a Time Lord died, once and for all, their mind... their very essence... lived on for longer than the body.  Eventually, yes, it would fade and only memories would remain - their knowledge and what they had learned but that spark of life would vanish - but it took time."

Ianto thought for a long moment, as did Jack.  "How long?"

"Centuries, sometimes millenia.  The more powerful, and elder, Time Lords perhaps never truly die.  And, for some reason... my grandfather has the strength, the power, of the oldest of the old.  His memories needed someplace to go, and I was the closest... besides that of the TARDIS," the Doctor took a breath.  "Usually I can just access his memories, his advice, touch his 'sleeping' mind as it rests within mine, other times his Self is stronger than mine."

"And that's when I swear I feel him inside you," breathed Jack, his face paling.  "And he did this to you?"

"No, I did it to myself.  I understood the risk of it, but I expected a Time Lord of the same generations as the others... not... not this," she admitted.  "He's so old, Jack.  He's like touching creation itself.  He's impossible."

"What does this have to do with, well, this?" asked Ianto.

"Because of that link, and possibly because of the connection between the TARDIS, me, my grandfather and even the two of you... but mostly because of what made Jack immortal... that reminder of the Matrix showed itself by projecting my grandfather into a shared dream with Jack.  While I saw Gallifrey and it prompted me to disbelieve what I was seeing as a dream, what made Jack disbelieve enough to wake up was Thirteen.  It could have just as easily have been the avatar of the TARDIS, but because of the loose bits of a dead Time Lord, it became him instead."

She bent back to her task of opening the cellar door, which it did with a sproing sound of a spring releasing.  She stood up and Jack lifted the heavy door out of the way.

A noxious white gas flowed out of the hole, but thankfully, the tablets did their job of inoculating them against it.  The Doctor's respiratory bypass - finally - responded in reaction to something her body finally saw as a threat.  As it cleared, she lit up the space with the sonic while Jack and Ianto used flashlights.  There was a set of rickety stairs down, which Jack climbed down first, followed by the Doctor, but Ianto said, "I'll stay here and keep watch on the door, just in case."

"Good idea," agreed Jack.

They descended the stairs until they stood on a dirt floor.  In the middle of the room was a woman, wired into a network.  For a moment Jack and the Doctor were back on the Game Station.  "What in the name of Rassilon..." she breathed in horror.

"... Oh please God, not again," said Jack.

Her eyes opened, and the words they heard didn't come from her lips, but almost from all around them.  " _Close your eyes, close your eyes, I need you asleep to feed... need your dreams, need your memories..._ "

Jack felt a chill rise up his spine.

Daleks he could have handled.  This was frightening on a scale that beggared the imagination.  "What is she?" he asked.

The Doctor scanned her with the sonic, then stepped back.  "Human..." she answered quietly.  "Who did this to you?"

" _Jack and Jill went up the hill, but Jill was nameless.  Who are you to ask, but... I saw your dreams.  Such horrors, such wonders, such fire and timelessness._ "  She turned her sightless eyes to them.  " _No one did this and everyone did.  I crave it, I crave them.  I need the dreams and I need this to have them_."

Jack blinked, holding his shaking hands and the gun up.  "What?"

"She did this to herself."

"Then who took us through the hotel?  Who served her, if not her?" asked Jack.

" _HOLY FUCK!_ " came from Ianto upstairs.  " _DOCTOR!_ "

"Is it Section Seven?!" called up Jack.

"No!" called back down Ianto.  "Please tell me I'm high on that shit again..."

"Afraid not," answered the Doctor, already having her suspicions.

"Those two dead guys... aren't so dead!" yelled down Ianto, and then they heard gunshots.  "We have a problem - bullets don't stop them!"

The Doctor stepped up to the woman, and saw that, she too, was not altogether alive.  "All that's keeping her alive is her mind and the fluids to her brain..." she realized.  "Jack, shoot her brain-stem."

"What?" asked Jack in surprise.

"Just do it... double tap to the head!"

Jack aimed, and pulled the trigger.  The woman slumped down in the ties and then suddenly dust started to filter down.  "Find those band members!" she shouted as they turned on their flashlights and cast around.

As it so happened, they didn't have to look far or all that hard.  Once the psychic link from the mostly dead woman was broken, groans could be heard as three men began to sit up and look around.  "What in the name of hell?" asked one.

"Just get the hell out of here!  Now!" yelled the Doctor as she pushed the three of them up and out once she and Jack disconnected their IV's as well.

They ran, or shuffled and was pushed up and out of the cellar.  The Doctor was relieved to note that once they had killed the woman, that the undead helpers had simply slumped over and ceased to move.  They ran, as the cellar appeared to be a major part of the foundation, and the shaking was causing major parts of the walls and ceilings to fall.  Once they had made it to the road, and to the van and car, which was simply parked along the shoulder of the road, they stopped running and watched as the cantina collapsed in upon itself.

"What was the name of that place again?" asked Ianto.

"Hotel California," answered the Doctor, once she was able to pull in a whole breath.

The five men looked at each other, and the three shakier ones climbed into the van to recover their wits.  The second roadie, the one who had told the Doctor to find them, came up to her and hugged her.  "Thank you so much, Doctor.  Thanks to you and your friends, we're alive and out of that nightmare.  If you ever need anything, please... just remember that the band's name is the Eagles... we'll be there."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other and began to laugh as they got into the car.  The Doctor was even smiling.  "Thanks, I will."

"Can I convince you to come with us?" asked the other roadie.  "The guys will like you - pretty, brave and a genius.  Their type of woman."

"No, I'm needed elsewhere," she answered and she waved to them before climbing into the car, starting the engine, and driving off back down the road to the beach.  She looked at Jack, and then Ianto in the rear view mirror.  "How about we finish that day on the beach?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter:
> 
>  **_CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE ELEVENTH HOUR REDUX_ **
> 
> The 15th and the 11th Doctor team when the 15th Doctor crosses her own timeline by accident, winding up in Leadworth during the Atraxi invasion & the search for Prisoner Zero while chasing another alien in the same area. Can she avoid causing paradox or will two Doctors solve both problems?


	11. The Eleventh Hour Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 15th and the 11th Doctor team when the 15th Doctor crosses her own timeline by accident, winding up in Leadworth during the Atraxi invasion & the search for Prisoner Zero while chasing another alien in the same area. Can she avoid causing paradox or will two Doctors solve both problems?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I promised this one a long time ago, lol, and had to move from where it had been to where it is now. Sorry about the delay, but you'll understand why when you read to the bottom. Enjoy the extremely rare double posting - considering it a "special" treat for Easter/Ostara and enjoy the premiere everyone! I know I'll be watching with baited breath.
> 
> And now for the beginning of this web series Season Finale!

Jack and Ianto stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around at their surroundings, relaxing as they heard the sound of birds singing and children playing in the park.  It was still a crisp and cool morning, however, and so they rubbed their hands to warm them and huddled into their jackets.  The Doctor came outside, dressed in her now usual black and grey clothing, and the black knee length collared button up sweater.  The only break from her usual was a wide green scarf wrapped loosely around her neck.  Their breath clouded in the air.

Come to think of it, Jack had not seen her in anything else but black or dark grey, or greens so dark they could be mistaken for black.  "Doctor, thought you said it was spring..." said Jack.

"It is, likely early spring," Ianto answered for her before she had a chance to.  "I hear birds.  Usually they fly south for the winter, but seeing as they are here, then they must have come back for the spring.  Or it's fall and they haven't gone south yet.  Either way, this is a typical English morning."

"It's brisk, but I have to agree with Ianto.  It's not winter." She took a deep breath.  "Nice to breathe it again..." She patted the side of the TARDIS.  "Nice to land as I intended too."

Jack grinned as Ianto walked over to a bench and picked up a recent, but still abandoned, newspaper.  "You can say that again," agreed Jack.  "Okay, it's nippy but I can live with nippy after that desert when you had the concussion."

They watched as Ianto walked back over to them.  "So, where are we?" asked Ianto.

"Leadworth," she answered.  "I'm was aiming for around New Year's or so, maybe into February, but not too much later than that."

"Not that far off," said Ianto with a shrug.

"So long as it is the fall of 2011 or the spring of 2012," she said with a smile.  "And, if the old girl finally let me go where I wanted for once then we should be close to that.  I like babies, but I've had my fill now that my youngest is oldest to graduate.  I promised Amy and Rory I would visit, and so here we are."

Ianto looked at Jack, and Jack caught the look.  Ianto was amused by something and he handed the paper to Jack with a bit of an amused smirk.  Jack read the date on the paper and began to laugh wholeheartedly.

"What?" asked the Doctor.

From the two of them she got the answer.  "You missed."

Jack handed her the paper, and she read the date.  "Oh no.  No, no, no... not again..."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other and it was Ianto who asked, "What?  Don't tell me we crossed yet another time line?  What is it lately and that?  I thought it wasn't supposed to happen."

"Especially not this often," agreed Jack.

"This is worse.  This just isn't a version of me, although when you think about it, if it's not me as in myself but my _grandfather_... again... yes, it's still a crossed time line but it's not as bad as say running into another _me_ ," she stressed the last bit.  "But for some reason the Vortex and the TARDIS is not only allowing to happen, but with great regularity.  I'm going to have to think about it another time because in a few minutes things are going to go to hell in a hand basket."

"Huh?" asked Jack, momentarily confused and then it dawned on him.  "Oh, don't tell me... he's here."

"Yes, and freshly regenerated from ten into eleven.  It is, of sorts, the first adventure with Amy and Rory.  How they meet, actually... but why am I here too?"

"Can we leave?" asked Ianto but at that moment the sky turned pink and then blue, although the blue was a strange shade with a pink tone.  "What the hell was that?"

"The Atraxi," answered the Doctor.  "Interdiction field.  We're stuck here."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * *

The Doctor ran into the open and stared up into the sky, gritting her teeth as she did so.  Jack and Ianto, from cover did the same.  "Who, or what, are the Atraxi?" asked Ianto.

"A race of jailers, as far as I know," answered Jack.  "One small part of the Shadow Proclamation."

"Not part of it," corrected the Doctor.  "Contracted jailers.  Mercenaries, of a sort.  Only instead of hunting down criminals they jail them.  Atraxi prison worlds are infamous for being impossible to break out of.  Only the most dangerous and wily of prisoners, outside of the Time Lord's Shada, are put in the care of the Atraxi."

"Oh great," said Jack brightly, but with a bite of sarcasm.  "Who are they after on Earth... oh, don't tell me... you or your predecessor?"

"No, a being called Prisoner Zero."

"Oh, I remember this," said Jack, although he saw Ianto shaking his head confusion.

This incident was in between.  After the 456 incident for Ianto, but before his return to Earth a few years later.  Jack, however, remembered it from his wandering of Earth after the 456, when he had thought most of his team and Torchwood destroyed.  Only he had been in China when the field had gone up.  There were a lot of frightened people then, he remembered.  The villagers of the small town he had been staying in had been panicked, thinking yet another invasion was incoming.

They were aimlessly wandering, although Jack could see a definite pattern to her wandering.  Every so often she would stop as if thinking and then lead them off in another direction.  Jack figured it out quickly.  She was avoiding the areas she remembered, and therefore him.  "Why don't you just ask him?" asked Jack.

She stopped and turned to face them.  "Because I don't remember talking to me, or either of you, before you ask.  I can't speak for Amy or Rory, but considering they didn't know who I was when I was first thrown in with you and them in that cage when we first met, I'm guessing I didn't meet them now either.  However..." She turned to face Ianto and Jack.  "... that doesn't mean Amy or Rory didn't meet either one of you..."

Jack thought for a moment, and then he and Ianto caught each other's glances, knowing where she was leading with this.  "Oh boy," said Jack.

"Ianto, I want you to go to Amy's house, but, stay out of sight of a young man with brown hair... and likely the tattered remains of a pinstripe suit."

"I know who you mean..." began Ianto.  "Tall man, mid thirties, dark blonde to brown hair."

"No," came her quiet answer, as she wrote down the address and directions to Amy's house.  "A young man, looking to be in his twenties, with brown hair and the remains of the suit that other liked.  There might be no jacket, but you'll be able to tell who he is by listening to him.  It's usually painfully obvious in the first few seconds of his opening his mouth."

Ianto nodded and then ran off in the direction indicated.

Jack looked down and then away.  "How long in this body is he?"

"Hours, maybe not even," she answered.  "He'll still be experiencing regeneration sickness, although he won't be as useless as he usually is, he'll be unbalanced but up and around."

Jack closed his eyes and she walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.  "It's still that same man.  Different, but the same.  Everything that was him is still him.  Only minor things change.  You know that."

"Still feels like you lose them," he answered thickly.

"It's worse when they don't regenerate - because they are literally gone," she answered back, quietly.  "Are you all right with this?"

"Yeah, I will be," he answered.

"His song finally ended.  As all must.  But, if it's any consolation I still miss him dearly and wish I could bend to the temptation of seeing him one more time but I can't risk it," she said, as she turned, indicated to him to follow and started running off in another direction.  "Let's keep this one's song from ending too soon."

* * * * * * * * *

Ianto checked the paper again and then ran to the house.  He had his hand on the knob of the front door when he swore at himself silently.  Rookie error.  He pressed himself against the wall and drew his gun before moving silently, stealthily to the back of the house.  Never go straight in the front door.  Most people expect the front to be stormed.

In the event of an alien incursion it wasn't too unusual to expect traps and other unpleasantness.

He turned around the corner and found himself quite puzzled at the sight in the garden.

Sitting beside a run down shed, and in the middle of the garden, was the TARDIS.  For a long moment he stood there dumbfounded but realized that if there were two Doctors then it was obviously logical for there to be two TARDIS's.  And this one had a few differences.  The shade of blue was far brighter, far fresher.  As if the police box was brand new, not the slightly aged look of the one they currently traveled in, where the shade of blue was faded to a still royal, if dark, blue bordering on midnight.  Fifteen's TARDIS also seemed far more likely to fade into the background, all subtle hues and dark.  Eleven's was, while still a police call box, brighter.  A bit less less likely to mix in.  It was simply too perfect.  Ianto walked up to it and laid a hand on the shell and was surprised by the purred greeting in response.  He grinned.  It was still, in many ways, Autumn's TARDIS before it was ever the Doctor's.

He had felt that straight away upon walking onto it with Fifteen and Jack.  That same caress on his mind and jubiliant greeting that gave him the feeling that, while it had only been a few years for him, it had been far, far long on the TARDIS itself.  How many years had passed between Autumn being the pilot before it passed to her son?  And then, after her son, to the granddaughter that now carried his name and his legacy?  He didn't want to hazard a guess but knew that by Time Lord standards, it was literally lifetimes ago.  To a human's standpoint it was so incredibly long that literally generations upon generations could have passed to the single Time Lord's.  And here it was that in Time Lord standards that four generations had stepped on the TARDIS and walked its corridors.

The TARDIS sensed his sorrow and sent him reassurance.  Yes, it had been perhaps millenia since she last saw him, and he had been missed, but it was okay.  She knew that one day he would return.  His being here was proof of that.  But now wasn't that time.

He dropped his hand and turned to the house.  "I understand, old girl," he murmured.  "I'll do what I can."

Ianto ran over to the back door, and saw that it was open.  He pushed it open more with his foot, staying to the side.  He could hear indistinct voices upstairs, and he slipped inside, his gun at the ready.

* * * * * * * * *

Jack looked at the stately building, puzzled, but he still followed the Doctor in as she came to a stop.  For all intents and purposes the hospital looked as it should and he was confused.  "Jack, you think you can hide yourself here?" she asked as she turned to face him.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he answered, still confused.

"Good.  Stay out of sight of Rory or Amy, because invariably if you see either one, or worse both that means..."

"That he's here too," Jack finished as he caught up with the thread of the conversation.

He had a feeling she was setting something up, but as of yet he wasn't sure what.  "Rory works here," she added as explanation.  "I want you to keep an eye out for them or anything else out of the ordinary.  The minute anything looks like it's about to go down..."

"... Call you?" he asked.

"No, get the hell out of here and call me.  Get out of sight," she ordered.  "This is one fixed point that cannot ever, under any circumstances, be broken.  The world could very well end if it does.  And there are so many ways for it to break..."

"Right, okay," Jack drawled out.  "So avoid the other you, Amy and Rory at all costs.  On pain of Earth's destruction.  Got it.  Where will you be?"

He didn't get an answer as she rushed off.  Jack let out a breath in a whoosh and looked around the store room in confusion.  Finally he spotted a set of scrubs, the kind orderlies, or rather Personal Support Workers, as they had come to be known, wore.  They weren't much different than nurses scrubs.  Actually they weren't any different.  Jack got out of his clothes and put the scrubs on.

If he had to be invisible, the best way to do it, outside of impersonating a patient or checking in and actually being a patient, would be to pass as someone who worked there.  With a sigh, he left the closet and stashed his clothes in an empty locker, locking it with lock that likely, if the Doctor spotted it, would know it didn't belong by sheer fact that it was obviously from the 51st century and therefore DNA locked.  He still kept his guns underneath his scrubs, and was thankful that they were thick, and loose enough, that their presence was well hidden.

Stay out of sight and keep watch.  Jack grinned.  That he could do...

* * * * * * * * * *

Ianto crept silently to the bottom of the stairs and listened.  He could hear a man's voice, and, much to his non-surprise, Fifteen had been right.  Two seconds into hearing him and Ianto knew it had to be the Doctor.  There was no mistaking the cross of arrogance intersparsed with techno-speak that he seemed to only understand.  There was another person there... and he recognized Amy's voice.

Just then he heard barking.  _What was that?_ he wondered.  _A dog?_

"What?  I'm sorry, but what?" came Amy's confused voice, as if she was surprised to hear the dog.

Ianto had a moment of confusion.  Wouldn't the woman know she owned a dog or was she confused, like everyone else, by the Doctor?  "It's all one creature, one creature disguised as two.  Clever, old, multi-form.  A bit of a rushed job, though... got the voices muddled, did you?" There was silence for a moment and Ianto imagined that everyone was as confused as he was, including likely that blasted dog.  "Mind you, where did you get that pattern from?  You'd need a psychic link, life feed, how'd you fix that?"

 _What the hell is he on about?_ mused Ianto.  He was about to take a step up the stairs when he heard the dog growling.  "Stay away!"

Ianto stopped.  Apparently so did the dog.  "Apparently we're safe, wanna know why?  She sent for backup."

Oh crap.  Police.  Ianto took a silent step back down to the bottom of the stairs and then sidestepped into the other room, into the shadows.  He had his Torchwood identification.  Good thing too, because if this went sideways he'd need it.

"I didn't send for backup," came Amy's voice.

Ianto had to stifle a bark of laughter, because the thought... _wait, what?_   "...I know, that was a clever line to save our lives.  Okay, yeah, no back up!"  The growling stopped.  "And that's why we're safe.  Alone we're not a threat to you.  If we had back up you'd have to kill us."

Ianto found himself suddenly not feeling as safe as he had.  Not that he was safe before, hence the gun drawn and hiding at the bottom of the stairs.  "Attention Prisoner Zero.  The human residence is surrounded.  Attention Prisoner Zero.  The human residence is surrounded."

Amy asked, "What's that?"

"Well, that would be backup," answered the Doctor, and again Ianto had to stifle a chortle at the slightly peeved and startled tone to his voice.  "Okay, one more time.  We do have backup, and that's definitely why we're safe."

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."

There was the sound of movement upstairs and Ianto used that opportunity to hide himself a bit better.  Not to well or he'd never escape himself, should it come to it.  The Doctor continued through the sound of the Atraxi outside, but Ianto couldn't hear what was said.  Moments later, he could hear the muffled sound of the Doctor yelling at something to work and then, plain as day, Ianto heard, "Run!"

His eyes opened wide and he ducked into a closet.  Barely in the nick of time, too, as Eleven and Amy ran past him, not even taking notice of the other person in her home as they ran out the front door.  A man and a dog ran past him as well and stood at the door barking.  Wait a minute.  The dog wasn't barking, it was the man.  Suddenly the Doctor's previous statement of it being one being in a multi-form disguise made sense.

Suddenly Prisoner Zero realized it wasn't alone and turned slowly to face Ianto and the fact that Ianto had his gun trained on him.  The man growled, but was surprised and stopped when he realized that Ianto wasn't in the least intimidated.  "Torchwood," said Ianto and the alien stopped dead in its tracks, alarmed, it appeared.  "I'm guessing you're Prisoner Zero.  Well, Prisoner Zero..."

He hardly had enough time to react and get one shot off when the creature attacked and blackness swept over him.  Before he passed out completely he heard the unmistakable whine of something in pain as it retreated itself.

* * * * * * * * *  
 **  
ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * * *

Ianto groaned as he came to and opened his eyes.  For a long moment he was confused.  The ceiling was a house... an older house in the country, if he wasn't mistaken.  He focussed on the face of the woman in front of him, but couldn't quite.  "Autumn?" he asked, confused, hope surging.

He blinked and the face came into sharp focus.  The woman looked much like Autumn, as he remembered her, but was not.  He felt his heart plummet as he looked at the woman, who like Autumn, had two hearts but was not the woman he had thought.  "Doctor," he said simply, trying and failing, to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"Indeed," she answered as she helped him to his feet.  "You just had to, didn't you?"

"I heard the conversation between your eleventh and Amy," he said.  "I know what Prisoner Zero is... or at least I have an idea of what they're looking for."

"So do I," she smiled, amused by this for some reason he couldn't figure out.  "I remember this as well... just likely not your side of this, or this current side as I am living now.  Now I know it wasn't blind luck... it was us.  All of us... the six of us working together without knowing it that recaptured Prisoner Zero."

"Not another predestined Paradox," groaned Ianto.  "You seem to collect these."

"Hmm," the Doctor was thoughtful for a second.  "The downside of being a time traveler... and in particular a Time Lord."

* * * * * * * * *

Everything seemed to be normal.  Jack sighed.  He managed to keep out of the way of the nursing staff and actually was quite useful.  Sure, he'd flirted with a few.  Some had coldly rebuffed his advances.  Others had shyly giggled.  He'd even flirted with a few of the patients, but only in a professional and distant manner.  So far no one had questioned his presence.

He grinned inwardly.

This was taking a page from the Doctor's book.  Walk in and act like you own the place and everyone will naturally assume that you belong there.  Only those who know implicitly that you don't will suspect.  So far he had not run into human resources, assuming there was such a thing, and anyone in charge of the entire hospital appeared too busy with whatever they did in administration to deign to come out of their offices to notice.

Jack simply slipped into place and his fellow staff assumed he was new to the job.  Maybe not the career, but definitely the place.  And he rolled with it.

Granted, that meant actually working instead of slipping around trying not to be noticed.  Now that he'd been seen and he had interacted, he had no choice but live up to the part.

And he could see why people hated it, or, loved it.  It was definitely a job that if someone wasn't there to do it the hospital would grind to a screeching halt.  He'd always assumed, thanks to Martha and Owen, that it was the doctors and nurses that made the place run.  Working as a personal support worker proved otherwise.  It was the least glamorous job, hell, even being a janitor in the place would have been less messy or less work.  He should know... he'd been a janitor to mix in to other places before... but this was ridiculous.  He had to be one part nurse - with that knowledge - and one part the former career path that used to be an orderly with the muscle, and the remaining part assistant nurse which only meant more nursing.  The only thing he didn't do with the patients was anything to do with medication unless it was oral, and then only to make sure they took it.  All else was his job.  From lifting to bed pans - and he shuddered with that memory of the morning - to helping the patients be up and around to simply being company and reading to ones who couldn't hold the books themselves.

Jack moved to the side and stretched his back, massaging a crick out of it.  A nurse came up and handed him an unopened bottle of pop.  "Thanks," he said.

"You looked like you needed it.  You know, I get that it's your first day and all, Jack, but you don't have to throw yourself into it quite so much," she smiled.  "It wouldn't hurt to take a break."

"Noticed that, did you?"

"Yeah, don't worry.  We all learn to take a break when we can in the first week or so.  It's the first day we're a little nutter.  Take care of yourself or you won't be able to take care of others.  First rule."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

And he would.  She wouldn't know it but that little piece of advice would stick with him, even after he stopped traveling with this Doctor and went back to Torchwood.  It would also be one he passed on to anyone he worked with.  That much he had decided arbitrarily.  In particular, he knew one Time Lord or two that needed to learn it.  He grinned.  He'd have fun trying to teach that concept to the Doctor with how stubborn she could be.

He almost missed the out of place person.  He blinked and turned back and the man and the dog blinked and then looked back at him.  They took two steps towards Jack as one.

There was something off about the pair, something he couldn't put his finger on.  "Hey, you shouldn't bring a dog in here," chided Jack as he walked up to them, and the man looked puzzled, as did the dog.  "Hospital, in case you missed it.  No pets.  You'll have to come back without him."

Then the man spoke, only it wasn't the man.  Jack understood immediately.  This was no man, and no dog, but a single alien creature.  He wasn't familiar with them all, but he knew to take a step back.  He feigned puzzlement and wonder.  "Oh wow, how'd you do that?  That must have taken a whole lot of training... ventriloquism and training the dog, I mean... you entertainment for the kids?"

Again the man and dog blinked in confusion, but advanced on Jack.  "Look, um, don't know who you are, or what you are, but you clearly don't belong.  I have a friend that can help, she does that kind of thing..."

"I am not going back - they will kill me instead of take me back," growled the dog side of things.

"Yeah, neat trick.  Bit messed up though.  Should have gone with my suggestion, buddy," said Jack as he backed up.  "Now seriously, back the hell off.  I'm not unarmed."

"Oh really, I see a scared orderly, or whatever they call you now," answered the creature.

"Nah, that's a disguise... better than yours, mind you, but..." Jack grinned.  "... I'm no personal support worker.  It's a cover.  Torchwood."

The creature reared back in surprise and he noticed the wound on its side as it took its real, and nasty looking, form.  "Someone already wing you?"

"Yeah, another one said he was from Torchwood.  I would have had him too, knocked him down, but for that nasty gun and his interfering partner," said the creature.

"Let me guess, you're Prisoner Zero!" Jack pulled out his gun and aimed it level at the creature, his other hand placed his headset in his ear where it belonged and he touched it to call the Doctor.  "Now, you are coming with me and we are going to sort this out.  Got it?"

The creature laughed.  "Oh, I don't think so."

It lunged and Jack pulled the trigger.  The gun went off, but also went wide and he missed.  It appeared the creature had not expected him to fire at all and so it retreated.  Jack gave chase, and he was suddenly aware of the screams.  Both from the sight of the creature that was now madly careening through the hospital, and him waving the gun.

He shoved a nurse out of the way and took aim at the fish thing again, but the creature used another patient to block his shot.  Jack grimaced, but kept running after it.  "Get everyone out!  Stop staring!" he shouted at the shocked nurse.

A few seconds later, Jack turned to see the same nurse who had talked to him earlier.  "Just get everyone out here, okay?  Torchwood business, if anyone asks."

She nodded, and then started doing what he told her to do.  Jack ran after the creature, determined not to lose sight of it.  Unfortunately, he did.  "We have a situation..." he said as she picked up.  "The alien is loose in the hospital.  I'm guessing you were half expecting this?"

"I was, but... hell... it's right on time."

"Yeah, well, I told everyone to evacuate and I know for sure that the alien is still in the hospital," said Jack as he listened for disturbances.  "I can't contain this on my own, where the hell are you and Ianto?"

"Jack?" came a voice behind him.

Uh oh.

"Jack, you idiot," came Fifteen's voice, only there was no anger or bite to it.  "I told you not to get spotted by him."

He turned around to look at the young man.  If he hadn't known that this was Eleven, Jack would not have recognized him.  Okay, maybe after a few minutes he might have, as there were quite a few clues, especially right now being so close to after a recent regeneration.  He didn't look anything like Ten, actually was shorter by a few inches and while not a big man, seemed less skinny.  Not muscular like Nine, though.  He was young, with a disportionate chin that did nothing for his face.  His brown hair was a few shades darker than Ten's which had skirted the border between blonde and brown.  It was also longer and had this tendency to fall into his eyes.  He was younger looking by a decade in human standards, easily mistaken for mid-twenties.

Jack noticed what was left of a blue pinstripe suit.  No jacket, no brown overcoat.  Pale blue shirt, tie that was loose on his neck.  Both looked like they seen better days.  Pinstripe trousers and converses.  Jack felt his heart plummet.

Very recent regeneration.

Was still likely trying to figure himself out and maybe never had the chance to look at himself.  "Hi..." started Jack awkwardly, looking from the Doctor to Amy and Rory, trying to mask both his worry and his recognition.  "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service.  Now, if you don't mind... Torchwood business and all... it'd be best if you left now like everyone else."  He turned his attention to the other.  "Ianto, any time now would be good for that back up... we have civvies on site..."

"Torchwood... right," said Eleven and he dragged the last part out.  "It would figure you'd have your fingers in it.  Got here really quickly too, didn't you."

"Well, you know us..." said Jack, grinning.  "Wait, how...?"

 _Please don't call me out on it_ , he inwardly begged.  _Please don't ask how... take this for what it looks like_...

"So, I'm guessing that's Gwen and Ianto on the other end?" he asked.

"Absolutely," answered Jack, then, to his own credit and acting skills.  "Wait, how do you know us?"

"Never mind that, where is Prisoner Zero?" asked Eleven.

"Jack, goddamit... walk away... all Time Lords are extremely telepathic..." whispered Fifteen in his ear.  "Give him any more time to puzzle it out and he will."

"That's not Gwen on the other end," said Eleven suddenly, puzzled himself.

"Had to round out our team - had a few openings - used to operating with at least five, you know.  We were down to three..."

"Ah."  Eleven suddenly seemed to accept this.

Jack suppressed a sigh of relief.  "So... how'd you get here first?" asked Eleven suddenly.  "I didn't see any vehicles from Torchwood."  Jack held up his Vortex Manipulator.  "Ah, I see.  Wait, how did you know to show me that.  How did you know I would know what it was when you already told me to evacuate."

"You know who I am, so it made sense, now didn't it?" countered Jack.  "So I could ask you the same.  However, I recognize the suit... or what's left of it.  Nice of you to show up, Doctor."

"Oh Jack," came Fifteen's voice, and then there was a crash on the other end.

"Uh, D... er... Ianto... what was that?" asked Jack, seeing Eleven catch on the almost slip.

Uh oh.  Not good.

"But now... hang on... I think I found out why we're here... gotta go... keep an eye on me, will you?"

Suddenly there was only empty air on the headset and Eleven had this look on his face.  Almost disbelief crossed with amusement.

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT THREE**

* * * * * * * *

Ianto, now that the Doctor had found him, had little choice but to follow after her.  He could have decided to wander on his own, but he felt that it was far better to work as part of a team unless it was more strategic to be alone.

The Doctor had them pressed into the wall as an Atraxi floated by, scanning the area.  Ianto's hand twitched to draw his gun.  The instinct was all but screaming at him to do as his training at Torchwood demanded he should.  But the Doctor clearlly had other ideas.  Some of them possibly better than his, but that still remained to be seen.  "I don't get the hiding," he said once it had passed.

"If I get seen, and scanned, by them they will naturally assume I am Prisoner Zero because I am not human.  Erronous assumption to be sure, but to them logical.  A non human on a class five planet full of humans.  Ergo - I must be the one they're looking for," answered the Doctor as she shook her head.  "They wouldn't be convinced of otherwise, either, before you ask.  No, best to avoid them.  Besides, when the time is right they need to be attracted to where Jack currently is... where the Doctor, my Eleventh incarnation, will handle them.  I am not supposed to be here.  I'm out of time, as are you and Jack.  Sometimes I wonder just what goes through the TARDIS's mind when this happens..."

"It's been happening alot."

"So I've noticed.  I have not crossed my own timeline, before all these recent affairs, for over a century, and then it only happened once... and before that I might have jumped a time track but I didn't cross my own time line, and again, it was a one off and didn't happen again.  I have not had such... issues... since my eighth and possibly my seventh.  Although the worst was my eighth.  I lost track so many times of when I was or what order that I literally forgot and lost track of my age.  But it was necessary..."

She trailed off.  "It's strange.  I know those events happened but yet I can't remember them with any great clarity.  Before then I could remember my past and those in it clearly.  But my time in my eighth incarnation turned everything into a muddle of confusion and half-remembered dreams.  I still remember everything before but I can't quite remember when or how long ago it was.  At least those memories are much clearer than the eighth's." She made a face then, one that spoke of confusion and frustration.  "Things snapped into place far too much during the Time War and then after it.  It was as if... as if... something on Gallifrey confused things.  Like I was more than one person at the same time, but not.  I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"Sounds like amnesia to me," answered Ianto.  "Any chances of that?"

"Well, yes, my eighth was plagued with it upon waking up in my new body.  I couldn't remember who or what I was or why I could sense time and other things.  I was sleepy, and I remember sleeping after finding clothing.  Stolen clothing, stolen bed..." she smiled sadly.  "I was lost, in pain, sick from regeneration, and alone even though there were people around me... all strangers... even if I had my memory then they would have been strangers.  I found myself in the back of a car, still in pain, and the memory is fuzzy on how I got there.  I woke some time later in the same car with Grace shaking me awake and helping me into her house.  I slept more, in her bed... how rude of me to put her out like that.  Then had to wake up and save the world while trying to get my memory back."

He looked at her, clearly not knowing what to say.  "Why am I telling you this?" she asked herself.

Ianto shook his head.  "Because I'm listening?" he offered.  "And because I won't tell anyone else.  Maybe because if you tell someone, even if they can't help, the listening ear will help you puzzle it out."

She laughed.  "There it's gone.  We can move now."

The mini raced by them as they stepped out from the shadow of the tree and the building.  She froze and put a hand on Ianto's chest.  "Were we seen?" she asked suddenly.

"I don't know!"

"I don't remember being seen... we're fine... come on."

They walked in another direction.  It was at this point he got the feeling that she was looking for something in specific, but just hadn't told him yet.  "It's peaceful here," he said suddenly.

"Yeah.  For all its drowsy feel for some reason something was special about Amy... but that is another story for another time."  She smiled sadly.  "And I'm done talking about my past."

It was then Ianto realized that she had fallen into "the Doctor" again.  She had been talking as if the memories she held that were not really hers, but her grandfather's, had been hers.  As if she'd lived them.  As if... he took an inward gasp.  He wondered what device on the TARDIS could cause so complete an overwrite or if it was a defense mechanism.  Or, in the face of danger when she truly had to be the Doctor she simply was on and there was just no Susan, no granddaughter or former companion - she became the Doctor so completely that there was no border between the two anymore.  What the world perceived became the truth while she was on, while she was the Doctor.

Because she had to.

He felt the same sweep of protectiveness that Jack had described when he also noticed it when he had started traveling with her.  Jack had said once she was "the Doctor" he felt as if he needed to be that wingman, that aide.  Companion.  Only, unlike with the grandfather, Jack had described it not as the desire to aid but as the desire to protect the secret, protect the legacy, and the new Doctor.

Ianto felt it now.  He understood Jack's feelings.  She simply drew you into her gravity well and didn't let go once you fell into orbit.

Her phone rang and she put it to her ear.  "Jack?"

"We have a situation..." he answered immediately.  "The alien is loose in the hospital.  I'm guessing you were half expecting this?"

"I was, but... hell... it's right on time."

"Yeah, well, I told everyone to evacuate and I know for sure that the alien is still in the hospital," said Jack, and there was a significant pause.  "I can't contain this on my own, where the hell are you and Ianto?"

"Jack?" she heard a too familiar voice in the background that had barely been picked up by Jack's microphone, but she heard it all the same.

"Jack, you idiot," she said, but she found she couldn't be angry.  Not now.  "I told you not to get spotted by him."

"Hi..." started Jack awkwardly, and she stifled a snort, but it was clear he heard it anyway.  "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service.  Now, if you don't mind... Torchwood business and all... it'd be best if you left now like everyone else."  He returned to her.  "Ianto, any time now would be good for that back up... we have civvies on site..."

She grinned and caught on to his very quick thinking.

"Torchwood... right," she could hear Eleven's voice more clearly now, as if he had stepped closer to Jack.  "It would figure you'd have your fingers in it.  Got here really quickly too, didn't you."

"Well, you know us..." said Jack, and she could hear the grin in his voice, then the feigned confusion.  "Wait, how...?"

"So, I'm guessing that's Gwen and Ianto on the other end?" he asked.

"Absolutely," answered Jack, then, to his own credit and acting skills.  "Wait, how do you know us?"

"Never mind that, where is Prisoner Zero?" came her grandfather's voice again, and she held her breath.

"Jack, goddamit... walk away... all Time Lords are extremely telepathic..." she whispered over the phone to Jack.  "Give him any more time to puzzle it out and he will."

"That's not Gwen on the other end," said Eleven suddenly, puzzled himself.

"Had to round out our team - had a few openings - used to operating with at least five, you know.  We were down to three..."

"Ah."  Eleven suddenly seemed to accept this, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"So... how'd you get here first?" asked Eleven suddenly.  "I didn't see any vehicles from Torchwood."  There was a another pause.  "Ah, I see.  Wait, how did you know to show me that.  How did you know I would know what it was when you already told me to evacuate."

"You know who I am, so it made sense, now didn't it?" countered Jack.  "So I could ask you the same.  However, I recognize the suit... or what's left of it.  Nice of you to show up, Doctor."

"Oh Jack," she said, then she turned as another Atraxi flew by.

She pushed both her and Ianto back up to the wall and out of sight, sending a garbage bin crashing to the ground at the same time.  They stilled as the Atraxi paused in the sky, visually scanning the area where they had been.  She could feel Ianto twitching beside her.  Likely wanting to go for his gun again.  Torchwood.  Sugar coat it all they want, it still was a bunch of trigger happy military types.  Worse than UNIT.

"Uh, D... er... Ianto... what was that?" asked Jack, and she took a breath because she knew her grandfather would catch that almost slip.

The Atraxi hovered, then began to move... towards them.  She looked around but found no other way to escape but out into the open again.  The Doctor knew that there was no outrunning the Atraxi.  She held the phone up again, and quietly said,  "But now... hang on... I think I found out why we're here... gotta go... keep an eye on me, will you?"

At this point she hung up before her grandfather could get any closer to the phone.  She swallowed and looked at Ianto, then back to the approaching Atraxi.  "Jack's been compromised, and so have we."

* * * * * * * *

For a long second Jack was surprised at the sudden silence on the other end, but he hid it well.  Eleven was still giving him this look that looked both confused and unconvinced.  "Who are you talking to, Jack?" asked Eleven.

Jack stared at him, the look on his face clearly alarmed at being caught out.  And he knew it.

"You still with Torchwood, then?" asked Eleven.

"Yeah," answered Jack, shakily.

"For some reason seeing me is not filling you with your usual.  So... that leads me to believe... you're crossing time lines."  Jack schooled his expression into utter neutrality, but knew it wasn't going to help him.  It didn't.  "A ha!  A later one!  Tell me... am I ginger?"

Jack looked at him incredulously, then grinned.  Moments later he was laughing hysterically.  The Doctor was also grinning, while Amy and Rory looked on in confusion.  "No, Doctor, not that I know of between this and..." He stopped, and he saw the Doctor catch his words and the meaning behind them.

"Oh really now?" asked the Doctor, and then he held up his hand as Jack chewed his lip.

"I am going to be so dead for this, but who knows, maybe you knowing now will lead to later.  She told me to keep out of sight of you and she is Fifteen.  The Doctor, I mean.  You.  And she is so going to kill me for that," Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Eleven was speechless.  Considering Jack had never seen a Doctor struck speechless in the now four incarnations he had run across, he knew that was quite a feat.  He swallowed and seemed to stumble a bit backwards.  Amy steadied him, and Jack guided him to a chair.  "She?  Fifteen? What?  How?" he said once he was able to speak again.

"Breathe, Doc," said Jack, kneeling so that he was eye level.

"Time Lord?" he asked quietly.

Jack nodded after a moment.  "She took your name and the TARDIS after... after you died.  Was fitting, all considering."  Jack winced at the way that sounded and at the fact that the Doctor was paler.  "She said her name, before, was Susan."

Eleven leaned back, his eyes wide.  "She lived."  He smiled then, one that reached his eyes for once.  "I'm not alone.  Oh, knowing that makes me feel... much better I think.  Not being the last and knowing she still lives."

Jack finished, "Alex too."

"Oh, now that just makes me feel old," chided the Doctor, and he stood up again, screwing up his face in a wry expression.  "Knowing my granddaughter takes my place after I'm... after I'm gone and that my great-grandson is old enough to take care of himself without her.  Rassilon..."

They turned to the stunned Amy and Rory who was looking at the Doctor with the most confused looks on their faces.  "My race lives for a long time," explained the Doctor.  "Right then.  Now is not the time for a family reunion, let alone one that is clearly off its time track completely."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT FOUR**

* * * * * * * *

Ianto stood just beside the Doctor at her left side.  The alien floated before them and it paused.  "You are a non-human life form.  Prisoner Zero will surrender."

"It might," she answered.  "But I'm not Prisoner Zero."

"Sol Three is the planet of humanity - its homeland - your presence here is illegal."

"Check your logs again, Atraxi.  I'm not just any life form.  Scan me," she said scornfully, stepping forward and holding up her arms.  "My grandfather negotiated the treaty with the Shadow Proclamation and the United Nations here on Earth.  UNIT was then formed to administer and watch over alien life.  I now carry his legacy.  As such I am a member of UNIT itself.  Officially as the scientific advisor.  Unofficially as their attache, their ambassador, and as a strategic and tactical advisor, as necessary.  I am the Doctor, my planet of origin is Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous."

The eye moved back a bit.  "You are not Prisoner Zero."

"No, I am not."

"You are a Time Lord."

"How observant of you."

"Gallifrey is gone... most of the Time Lords are dead," said the Atraxi.  "You are an endangered species.  Part of our mission is to protect species on the brink of extinction.  You will surrender yourself to our protection."

"I will not... wait a minute, what do you mean endangered?  Not extinct?" she asked as she picked up on what it had said.  "Are there others?  Others who survived the fall of Gallifrey?  _Where?!_ "

"That information is classified.  Our mission is to gather those we find."

Ianto put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.  "How many of them are there?  Have you seen personally?" he asked.

"I myself have taken five others to the client for preservation."

"What client?" she cried.  "Who hired you to 'preserve' our kind?"

"Our commander would know where the meetings take place.  It is not for this drone to know."

She closed her eyes and sent her senses out.  She could feel her grandfather and pulled back.  It wouldn't do to alert him too soon to her existence.  Until she was elsewhere, _elsewhen_ , she would not be able to stretch out her senses to attempt to find others.  The Doctor swallowed.  "Who else did you find?"

"Their names are unimportant."

"The hell they are!" she exclaimed.  "What were their names... or do you know?"

A holograph appeared and a series of faces were shown to her.  The Doctor felt her mouth go dry as she saw the face of someone she never thought she would see again when she found out that Gallifrey had been destroyed in a war.

Hawke.

Her father and the younger of the Doctor's two children, outside of Jenny which techically now made Hawke the middle of three children, although Hawke was the last child from Patience and the Doctor.  It flipped to another face and she felt another shock as she also seen the face of Autumn.  Ianto stepped forward to the Atraxi as he felt a rush of blood to his face.  " _Where did you take her?!_ " he demanded.

The Atraxi regarded the two of them.  "The Time Lord will surrender herself and I promise I will give the information to her human companion."

The Doctor turned to Ianto, a sad look in her eyes.  He shook his head.  "You can't."

"Can't I?" she asked quietly.

"You do this, Jack and are stuck here."

She took out her sonic screwdriver.  "Tell Jack that I have set this to fix the Vortex Manipulator.  It will get the two of you back to where you should be.  Use the TARDIS, emergency program one.  It will take you both back to Cardiff, two years after the 456 incident... and when you are supposed to return."

"And what about you?" he asked quietly.

"Find Al..." she stopped, looked over at the Atraxi, then leaned over and whispered in Ianto's ear.  "April twenty-first, twenty-two forty-seven, set the location to Torchwood in Vancouver.  Tell them... tell them... code ultraviolet four."  She looked at him.  "Can you remember that?"

He nodded, worriedly, but understood.  "What then?"

"Help will arrive," she explained, then she turned back to the Atraxi.  "All right, you have a deal.  I surrender.  Tell Ianto who your client is."

"The client's name is Professor Irving of the Horwegian Library Archive."

She turned to Ianto, and then nodded.  Ianto nodded back once.  "You had better know what you're doing."

"Don't worr..."

The Doctor was cut off as the Atraxi flooded her with a blue light and then she was gone.  The Atraxi left, flying back into the sky a few minutes later.  Ianto watched as her instructions ran through his head.

Moments later he started running for the hospital to where he knew Jack had been.  They met in the middle as they watched a large Atraxi sweep down on the hospital.  Jack looked around in confusion.  "Where's the Doctor?"

"She's gone!"

"What do you mean, gone?"

"The Atraxi took her.  Listen, she told me to tell you something," said Ianto.

Jack was furious.  "What the hell happened?"

"We were spotted by an Atraxi while she was on the phone with you," answered Ianto.  "Evidently, the Atraxi were contracted by some professor somewhere to gather up them... as in their species... as endangered for their protection.  She was scanned, because they first thought her to be Prisoner Zero.  Then they discovered she was a Time Lord.  Well, fuck, then they demanded her to surrender herself for protection.  She wasn't going to, but then they cut a deal."

"What kind of deal?" asked Jack, feeling as if the world had suddenly spiraled out from under him.

"They would share who had called for their collection and she would go with the Atraxi.  She took the deal and went with them," answered Ianto.  "But she left instructions."

"Is there something I can help you with?" came a voice behind them.

Jack and Ianto turned to face the Doctor, only it wasn't their Doctor.  It was the eleventh, now dressed in tweed and a bow tie.  He was alone, and appeared to a bit winded.  Jack chewed his lip.  "I wish I could say yes, Doctor," answered Jack.  "But this would be crossing time lines.  Majorly.  Knowledge you likely shouldn't have and all that."

"I get it," said Eleven, exasperated.  "Where is my successor?"

Jack and Ianto looked at each other.  "We were just discussing that.  She's gone," answered Ianto, and then he caught Jack's alarmed look.  "Don't give me that look.  Maybe he can help us."

"Maybe I can and maybe you should stick to the instructions she gave you," answered the Doctor.  "What were they?"

"First, go back to the TARDIS and engage emergency program one," answered Ianto, and he was relieved to see this Doctor nodding in agreement.  "Then use this to fix Jack's Vortex Manipulator and go to a date and place she specified and tell them Code Ultraviolet Four.  They'd help us."

He glared at the sonic screwdriver in Ianto's hand and then put his hand out.  Ianto handed it over and the Doctor inspected it.  "Nice work.  Elegant, understated... not as many settings as mine but most of these are multi-purpose.  How like her, all simplicity over complexity.  Meant to be used quickly with the exact setting easily accessed," he said, then tossed it back to Ianto.  "Now, show me your Vortex Manipulator... and I can't believe I'm about to do this... but... if you need to get to another place and time it is the only way."

The Doctor ran the sonic over Jack's Vortex Manipulator, poked at a few settings on it, and then sighed.  "There, it's fixed."  He looked at Jack, an unreadable expression on his face.  "Go get her back.  I'd hate to learn to I have family only to lose it again."

"Yeah," answered Jack heavily.  "You got it."

With a final two finger half salute, the Doctor ran off in the direction of Amy's house and his own TARDIS.  "So, I take it those were her instructions?" Jack asked and Ianto nodded.  "Let's skip a step and go straight to..."

"... no, she was quite clear on using the TARDIS first," answered Ianto.

"All right then, must have her reasons..."

They walked back to the TARDIS in silence.  Both were brooding and neither knew what to expect or how to get her back.  "So... where?"

"Torchwood Vancouver, April twenty-first, twenty-two forty-seven," answered Ianto.  "Find someone named Al."

"Think she meant Alex?" asked Jack.

"Could be," said Ianto, brightening, as they stepped into the TARDIS.

Jack spoke, "Initiate emergency program one.  The Doctor has been lost."

For a long moment the TARDIS was silent.  Ianto took a breath.  "TARDIS, initiate emergency program one.  She's been taken by the Atraxi.  We need you someplace safe and then we're going after her."

The lights dimmed and then turned red.  Somewhere in the depths of the TARDIS a bell tolled, but the time rotor started to move.  Jack looked at Ianto as he walked up to the console, running a hand along it.  "The TARDIS and I have a longer history than you and the Doctor do," answered Ianto.  "Autumn still lives, as does Hawke.  The name of the professor was Irving.  That name meant something to both her and I."

"Oh really?" asked Jack as the bell tolled one loud, frightened, chime.

"On Gallifrey there were two brothers.  One would bend time to his own ends.  Mostly harmless, but still, selfish.  Another would dedicate his life to helping others, although mostly he would wander.  At first, he limited this to Gallifrey and with other Time Lords," explained Ianto.  "This same wanderer would also, for a time, settle long enough to have a family because he wanted to.  And he loved it.  But something would happen and he would go back to wandering, only... he would take his granddaughter away with him.  This time he would go renegade and steal a time ship, his mother's to be exact.  This granddaughter would, on that same trip, name that ship the TARDIS.  And that wanderer was the Doctor.  This time ship, this TARDIS, used to belong to Autumn, and with Autumn I traveled.  So you see, the TARDIS has known me for longer... but that's a side story.  The real issue is how I know of Irving.  Or I should say Braxiatel."

"Who?" asked Jack, confused.

"Autumn's elder son, and the Doctor's brother."

Jack froze in shock.  "Are you saying that this Irving is Braxiatel?"

"Professor Irving Braxiatel, the librarian, the collector, and who knows what else?" explained Ianto.  "I think so.  Granted, it could be a coincidence and another Irving, one that is just interested in the Time Lords."  The cloister bell continued to ring.  "But the TARDIS, I think, agrees with my suspicion that it's the same one."

"But the Time Lords are dead," said Jack.  "He said so..."

"There's a range limit on their senses, Jack," said Ianto.  "There was no way to know they were all dead - not even he could be everywhere and everywhen, at once, to be sure.  And... Braxiatel was always clever.  As clever as his brother - clever is hard wired into a Time Lord."

"Jesus fuck," murmured Jack.  "We've got our work cut out for us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONTINUED IN  
>  ** _ALL IS NOT FAIR_** (Part Two)  
>  After being reunited with her great-uncle Braxiatel and her father, Hawke, the Doctor has to come to terms with the loss of Gallifrey all over again as the real threat comes to light. Braxatiel, in his usual neutral self, is only in it to preserve his lost culture, but her father is in it to end the Time War once and for all by using the Library as a training ground for humans by pitting them against the Vashta Nerada in preparation for the war against the Daleks. Can she save the humans in the Library while saving herself and convincing her father that the war is over... but is the war truly over? And who is the mysterious figure that keeps helping her?


	12. All is Not Fair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being reunited with her great-uncle Braxiatel and her father, Hawke, the Doctor has to come to terms with the loss of Gallifrey all over again as the real threat comes to light. Braxatiel, in his usual neutral self, is only in it to preserve his lost culture, but her father is in it to end the Time War once and for all. Can she convince her father that the war is over... but is the war truly over?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RECAP
> 
> Female of the Species  
> "He's dead," said Jack and there was a clatter of something dropping in the kitchen. "Our Doctor is dead."
> 
> The TARDIS hummed in comfort, but there was a mournful tone to it suddenly. "Yes. Your Doctor, the one you all knew... he died. It was a gentle, peaceful passing. And in so doing he passed on an important task and trust to me. I could have used a different name when I locked away my real one, but... I felt it honoured his memory more to not only continue his work but to continue him. Especially considering... as I said..." She tapped her head. "I remember everything that there was to know about him. I carry his memories... literally... Jack. In many ways we melded into each other and so he still lives on while I carry on the legacy."
> 
> "Who are you, though?" he asked. "According to him, everyone died on Gallifrey."
> 
> "Everyone did," she answered gently. "But there were those who never returned to Gallifrey... surely you didn't think that all Time Lords kept to one planet, especially considering our technology? No, we lived on but lived quietly and out of the way. There are so few of us now that we can barely sense each other, if at all, unless we are in the same era and general place. It's not infinite anymore."
> 
> Time Lock  
> "For just one second I could have sworn I felt the presence of another Time Lord," she said as he looked at her in shock. "Not another me."
> 
> "A whole other Time Lord?" Jack looked around, not that it would help.
> 
> "Just for a second, and it was clear - not long enough for any sense of familiarity - but clear enough to not be an echo. Now all I get are echoes again," she replied mournfully. "But it does tell me one thing."
> 
> Shogun  
> The Doctor blinked, and looked down at the kimono. It was a short-sleeve variant, worn by married woman for semi-formal situations. She supposed that this situation warranted it. The base colour was silver near the hem, but faded to a more silvery platinum white on the shoulders and upper part of the kimono. The lining was red silk. The obi was also red, with silver embroidery of the outlines of roses.
> 
> The scene depicted, in beautiful wood block style and using silk screening to achieve was a snowy moonlit garden full of roses and green trees. In the background was a howling lone silver wolf.
> 
> "The Bad Wolf," mused Jack.
> 
> Hotel California  
> "It's not that," she answered. "Just... sometimes... I'm not sure whose memories or feelings I am feeling... and other times I know."
> 
> "Like now?" he asked.
> 
> "Like now," she answered. "I was feeling dual feelings. His and mine, and then they were both the same but yet not. Something I remembered as me connected to something of his and the feelings on both were so very strong."
> 
> Jack blinked. "He's really, truly, you as well, isn't he?" asked Jack in wonder.
> 
> "It's... difficult to explain..." she began. "But yes, more than just memories were transferred. And lately, they've been getting stronger and more insistent."
> 
> "Any idea why?" asked Ianto as he walked up to them.
> 
> "I don't know. It's... it's like he's trying to tell me something."
> 
> The Eleventh Hour Redux  
> "Professor Irving Braxiatel, the librarian, the collector, and who knows what else?" explained Ianto. "I think so. Granted, it could be a coincidence and another Irving, one that is just interested in the Time Lords." The cloister bell continued to ring. "But the TARDIS, I think, agrees with my suspicion that it's the same one."
> 
> "But the Time Lords are dead," said Jack. "He said so..."
> 
> "There's a range limit on their senses, Jack," said Ianto. "There was no way to know they were all dead - not even he could be everywhere and every when, at once, to be sure. And... Braxiatel was always clever. As clever as his brother - clever is hard wired into a Time Lord."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT FIVE**

* * * * * * * *

  
She was drifting.

Memories that were actually hers flitted through her mind and before her eyes, but passed before she could lay hands on them to actually take note of what she saw.  She remembered her childhood first.  Like her grandfather, she had not always been happy with her life on Gallifrey and longed for the stars.  This would lead to her eventual leaving with him.

But these were of happier times of before her mother's death and her father's gradual withdrawal from anything and everyone not in the Citadel.  His distance hurt her.  Grandfather had tried to fill in, but, and she loved that he tried, he could not.  When he realized this he tried a different tactic and simply fell to an easy closeness that defied definition.

It had been a beautiful day, and the entire family - those on Gallifrey still - had taken to the terraced gardens outside the House.  It was unusual for them to do something so mundane as picnic outside but they had done so.  That day had so many generations there, and Arkytior had remembered it being some sort of reunion.

Autumn had presided the entire fete as the eldest in the House, but had politely deferred to Grandfather.  By then she was using the name Autumn, even if it had been translated at that point the meaning was clear.

Autumn.

The herald of Winter.

Her memory changed to something she had often dreamed.  She had never actually seen it but held the dream of it in her mind, an echo of her grandfather's memories.

The same House, now in ruins and rubble.  The gardens now burnt and dust.  Beyond she saw the Citadel dome cracked, and ships lay scattered around.

Bile rose and she gasped into wakefulness.  She was suspended, vertically, in some sort of chamber and held aloft by a gel like fluid.  She tried to gag, but her throat wouldn't respond, even though she could feel the tube down her throat and the others in her nose, her arms and other areas to prevent soiling the fluid she floated in.  Opening her eyes didn't help as the gel was thick and obscured everything to the point that even the area just outside the tube was naught more than blurry shadows.

For a long moment she tried desperately to remember how she had come to be like this but she could not, and something as simple as forming her own name faded as soon as the complex syllables formed.  She couldn't feel senses that should have been there and others she did have were not functioning as they should.

She couldn't help it - she panicked, trying to thrash but when she realized that something had made her leaden and unresponsive she panicked worse, only now she panicked within.

And then she saw something.

There was a hand on the glass, she could see it clearly.  Someone had reached out, seeing her fear and put a hand on the glass to let her know she wasn't alone.  Someone out there cared, she could feel that.

The presence was soothing, urging her rest and sleep more.  There was no reason to panic, to fear.  She was safe.  Images of the home she remembered rose again, almost as if bidden to, and she felt as if someone held her close, and soothed her... like he had when she had woken from a bad dream when she was a child.  These arms were the arms of her father and she felt, heard, and sensed his humming of the old lullaby he used to sing her when she was little.

The illusion faded but the hand did not.

She remembered who she was.  Her name was Arkytior, but she never used it anymore, and had stopped using that name long ago when she had left Gallifrey with her grandfather.  Later, when he was on his last incarnation and had no regenerations left... he came back for her and they had one last adventure before Arkytior held him as he finally closed his eyes for the final and last time.

In his honour... she had become the Doctor in his stead.

The hand on the glass was not his, but it was her father's.  Arkytior could feel it in her hearts.  She held out her hand, finally calm enough to gain enough control to do that, reaching out to him to touch the glass where his hand was.

* * * * * * *

  
The man was not old, but neither was he young.  His eyes dispelled the illusion of youth that his face gave him.  He held a hand to the glass, pressing it against the clear and cool surface like he was not touching it but instead holding what was within the chamber.

He wore simple, but extremely well made and rugged clothing meant for purpose, but also as an identifier.  It was a uniform of a military that not only could span space but time itself - the Gallifreyan Space Navy, once, so long ago when the Time Lords set aside war, disbanded but in the fires of the Last Great Time War reborn.

He had a hand in that, being once part of the Celestial Intelligence Agency on Gallifrey itself, as well as ambassador to many cultures with a standing Navy of their own.  He had come back to Gallifrey and presented to the Lady President of the time that Gallifrey, and the Time Lords, needed their own military.  Admiral Hawke, as he was now known, had been refused over and over again until finally Romana had given him the benefit of the doubt.

That likely had more to do with the savage Leela agreeing, but he had to be fair.  Leela likely had pestered Romana until she agreed to a second meeting, and then a third, and finally she allowed him to gather a few volunteers and an old TARDIS to run military manoeuvres with.

With the lemons he had been given he made more than lemonade, he honed to keen edge the minds of many once-soft, non-militarily-inclined young Time Lords, and turned the ancient TARDIS he’d been gifted into  a weapons platform, a viable war ship.  When the Sontarans attempted an invasion - thinking the indolent Time Lords easy pickings despite the title "Time Lord", which, in retrospect should have been warning enough - Hawke had been ready and waiting for such a challenge.

The Sontarans threw a fleet at Gallifrey.

Hawke threw his war-TARDIS, and his crew, into action and counter attacked, wiping out two of their ships before they realized what happened, killing another when they did, and then holding his own while being vastly outnumbered without having to cross their own time lines to appear to be more than one ship.  Although he had been tempted to do just that his Time Lord instincts told him that combining paradox with a battle was a sure way to rip holes in time, and turned away from the temptation.

Not to mention it would not have helped his case with the High Council and Senate.

He would have died to prove his point, but the Doctor managed to get the Sontarans to leave peacefully, tails between their legs (so to speak), with the note that Time Lords made bad enemies.  

It was a lesson no one would ever forget if Hawke had anything to do with it.

* * * * * * * *

  
Hawke endured his father's lecture about negotiation, about subtly and about giving people a chance to make the right choice if only given the time to make that decision... and blithely ignored his father's hypocritical rantings with a neutral and blank face.  When he finished, Hawke coolly asked, "If that will be all, sir, I must see to my ship."

"You see, Romana?" the Doctor exclaimed.  "This is what I'm trying to prevent."

"What?" asked Hawke, sharply.

"The irresponsible choice of having a military!  Gallifrey doesn't need it, it would give the wrong impression altogether!" shouted the Doctor, this one being partial to a velvet jacket, cravat and long light brown or blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Oh that's rich, coming from you, father." Hawke felt his temper rising.  "You run away from it all the time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded his father.

Just like that, the Doctor ceased being the wandering widow and became the Time Lord who was Hawke's father.  The one before Patience had died, or disappeared... either way it made little difference.  Romana looked from father to son and back again before she held up her hand.  "Gentlemen, if you have an argument that isn't related to the matter at hand, perhaps it would be best served to not fight about it in the Presidential office."

Not that either heard her, they had gone silent and resorted to glaring at each other.  "The captain has a good point - diplomacy doesn't always fix it."

"So we shoot first and ask later?" asked the Doctor.  "Since when has that been an option?"

"Since we've had enemies that invaded and asked permission later, father," answered Hawke coolly.  "Or did you forget that they managed to bring down the interdiction field just long enough to land a few troop drop ships on Gallifreyan soil?"

The Doctor again glared at his middle son.  "I did not forget," he answered finally.  "But this should not be our first option."

"And it isn't," soothed Romana.  "But it is a necessary measure to defend ourselves.  We've grown complacent with our place in the universe and it is not something we should have done.  Hawke has shown us we still have that defensive capability."

The Doctor didn't have a response to this, but he threw up his hands in the air and sat down heavily on the couch.  He then tipped his hand.  "Please, Captain Hawke, continue with how you will now proceed with this."

"The Agency needs to stay, but it can no longer be our only line of defence.  We need a standing military of the same size as the Agency, a Navy, with trained ground troops that can be landed when necessary, as well as fighter support for any ships we have.  It's all fine and good to be able to appear and reappear, but it takes time - even if moments - and in a battle every nano-span counts," began Hawke, as he brought out a tube.  "If you don't mind, Madam President..."

Romana tipped her hand to let him continue.

* * * * * * *

  
Hawke remembered those discussions as if they were yesterday.  His recommendations had taken him from Captain to Admiral of the fleet in an Earth week.  His father had dragged his feet, but finally grudgingly said he was proud of his son, even if he didn't approve of what he was doing, and that making a new anything on Gallifrey was an accomplishment in itself.  Praise layered in concern.  It was almost like he was young again before things had gone to hell.

Before his father had stolen his only daughter away from him, never to be seen again.

Until now.

He still wore the uniform.  It was a sign of his greatest achievement and of his station and how he had made that station in life on his own without the approval or the aid of his father.  He could have founded his own House had he a family to do so with.  But, he had been a widower then with only one child - a daughter - who was missing thanks to her grandfather.

And so where House and Chapter sat on his shoulder, he sported the silver dragon of his House on the crimson field of the Prydonian Chapter underneath the whorl of the Seal of Rassilon, the symbol of the Time Lords and of Gallifrey.  On his other arm rested his rank and braid.  He wore them proudly, though Gallifrey was a shadow of itself.

Hawke turned to the other man in the room, the one who monitored Arkytior's health and vital signs from the computer.  He was a man who wore a very expensive and well tailored human made business suit, silk shirt and tie in somber, but rich colours.  This man had silver, close cut hair.  He was reedy and thin, but this gave him a severe, serious and too cold feel to his features where he might have been quite handsome.  "She is not quite ready to awaken yet, Hawke."

Hawke turned from the tank completely after his daughter fell asleep due to the lingering weight of the drugs given to her by the Atraxi to keep her sedated during her transfer to their facility.  "Tell me when she is ready to be awakened, Uncle Braxiatel."

With this Hawke left the medical bay as Braxiatel watched.

* * * * * * * *

  
The console room was lit in red while in flight.  The time rotor rose and fell and the sound of the engines had a fever pitch as the old TARDIS flew through the Vortex as fast as she could, as if by pushing herself she could reach her destination even quicker.

Jack and Ianto were helpless to do anything but watch.  Once Ianto had engaged the emergency protocol all the controls had locked.  They could watch but the symbols that made up the Doctor's language was indecipherable.  At least to them.  Jack paced around the console as Ianto watched from where he sat in the library chair.

Finally the old ship settled and the engines stilled, although the console was still lit in red.

The doors opened, the meaning clear.  With a sigh, Jack stepped outside, Ianto close behind.  The doors to the TARDIS closed and Ianto turned and locked it, slipping his key into a pocket.  The night was clear, and the stars sparkled.  The reflected light from the moon was the only thing that lit up the street.

There were no streetlights, no cars.  No house lights.

Jack and Ianto blinked and looked up the street one way and then the other in confusion.  It was Vancouver, of that Jack had no doubt.  And it was indeed a future Vancouver, if the abandoned cars and trucks were anything to judge from.  Ianto came the same conclusion as they noticed the grass growing in the cracks of the pavement and the emptiness.  "Future, the cars give it away.  But... too abandoned... what happened here?" wondered Ianto.

Jack shook his head, but then his reflexes had his hand on his gun and it out and aimed before he had time to think.  Ianto had already done the same.  "Drop your weapons!" yelled the lead soldier of the group which had literally come out from nowhere.

They were dressed all in black, masks over their faces and their eyes even painted black.  High powered rifles, which were still using bullets, Jack noted, were aimed at them.  At least ten high powered rifles at quick count.  He'd live and then, if he died, come back... but not Ianto.  "All right, all right," Jack said as he lowered his gun to the ground, motioning Ianto to do the same.  "My name is Jack Harkness, and I realize this will be a bit..."

"Jack?!" came a voice.  "Stand down!  Let me through!"

Jack blinked as the uniformed men gave way to a young man who couldn't have been older than seventeen.  Jack stared in shock.  "What military lets a boy run it?" asked Ianto.

"Torchwood does, and if you're really Jack Harkness."  The boy pointed at Jack.  "You'd know that.  My name is Alexander Campbell, and what the hell are you doing in my mother's TARDIS?"

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT SIX**

* * * * * * * *

  
When she awoke, her head was much clearer, and she was no longer suspended in the fluid she had found herself in before.  Very disorienting that.  Did all sorts of funny things to her perception to wake up and still not be awake.  Made dreams and reality mix up into something they really shouldn't mix up into.

The Doctor opened her eyes, reflecting that perhaps things were not as clear as she thought they were.

First, her eyes didn't really want to open and her body felt like lead.

Secondly, her father was sitting beside the medical bed in a chair, and he looked like he might have been sitting there awhile.

Third, the technology in the medical bay was the same as in her TARDIS, the same as the medical centres on Gallifrey, meaning it was all Gallifreyan.

"This is impossible," she murmured, moving to sit up to look around better.

Her father sat up straight and put a hand to her shoulder, gently easing her back down into the pillows.  "Don't sit up," he said, and as usual... of course he would speak it, it wouldn't be something she'd hear by cheating and making the TARDIS translate what the others said into it, but it was really, truly Gallifreyan flowing from the man's lips, and no matter how mundane it was still beautiful... "Cryo sleep and Time Lords have never been known to mix well."

It actually took her a moment to switch her thoughts from English after so many years (centuries?) of not speaking anything else back to Gallifreyan.  "Father?"

He nodded, and he adjusted his uniform.  The only thing that was out of place was a new loop of braid, and perhaps another medal, and the fact that the uniform actually appeared to be less fabric and more armoured, meant to be worn in battle and not just for show anymore.  It seemed less ceremonial and more hard, brutal, edges.  It suited him far more than the robes ever could.  "How?"

Her father sighed.  "You honestly didn't think you and your grandfather could have been the only Time Lords away from Gallifrey, did you?  The Daleks, and the other Time Lords forgot about a few small families, or even just the individuals, that either refused or were otherwise unable to return to Gallifrey.  Not to mention an entire fleet of TARDISes and other warships that were fighting elsewhere when the Moment was used and wiped our home world away."  There was an infinite amount of bitterness there, the Doctor winced as she heard it.  An old disagreement left to fester.  "And so I survived, and so did a few others of our family, House and Chapter.  Considering the wanderer trait in our family, you shouldn't be so surprised.  It didn't start, nor did it end, with the oh so wonderful vaulted 'Doctor'."

Oh yes, more than a little bitterness there.  "Father..." began Susan.

He shook himself out of it, forcing a smile.  "I'm sorry, here you are after so long and all I can do is be angry.  My Arkytior, come home after wandering for so long.  I've missed you," he said.

* * * * * * * *

  
Jack and Ianto stared in shock.  Whatever they had been expecting this wasn't it.  Alexander Campbell of Torchwood Vancouver was a kid and yet here he was leading an entire hub on his own?  It didn't add up.  Jack looked from one person to the next, but noticed, as the masks came off, that Director Campbell was the indeed the youngest.

It was a bit of a shock.  Jack wasn't sure he'd allow himself to follow a boy around, let alone let him lead a Torchwood branch.  But here it was.  "Where is the Doctor?" asked Alex again.

"How do you know one of us isn't?" asked Ianto.

"One; the original, male, Doctor died.  There's now a female one, which, if I can remind you, is my mother," answered Alex.  "Two, I know you, Jack.  And you know me.  But right now you don't, which... wait... suddenly it makes sense."

"He never took one before," said a lieutenant, relaxing a bit.

Alex apparently agreed.  "You're Jack Harkness of Torchwood Three in Cardiff.  Now, you'd have known that neither of you are the Doctor because you're the Director in Cardiff and we're usually in contact.  You should know that... but you don't.  So, either you're not Jack or you're an earlier one."

"Earlier one, I suspect," said Ianto.  "May I ask how someone so young ends up leading his own branch of Torchwood?"

"I'm not as young as I look," answered Alex, rolling his eyes a bit.  "I'm one hundred and three Earth years old and have been a part of Torchwood since I was in my late eighties.  As I said the new Doctor is my mother - I'm not altogether human, if you've missed it."

Jack's eyes went wide and he found himself looking the young Time Lord up and down.  Then he whistled.  "You don't look dead spot on any of the Doctor's I've met but you've definitely got his gene code, kid."

"Jack..." Alex drawled out and Jack felt his skin crawl, Ten had always drawled his name like that when annoyed with him too.

In fact, and Jack found himself grinning.  Alex looked like a young... very young... and teenage Eleven now that he'd seen what Eleven looked like, but with much darker hair, less chin and Nine's cool blue eyes.  Jack grew serious, and he said, "Your mother sent us... she said you'd be able to help us to help her."

Alex made a whirling motion with his hand in the air, one that clearly said, "Let's roll," and then he turned back to them.  "Come with me.  The TARDIS will be safe where she is and we are not going far.  She knew where to bring you - you're on Torchwood's back step, actually."

* * * * * * * *

  
Once inside, showered, dressed again in drier clothes and with tea in front of them, they had more to talk about.  Alex was attentive and focused - everything a Director of Torchwood ought to be - as well as decisive.  He listened to what happened in Leadworth with great interest, only asking questions at certain points to clarify or get a better picture of what had happened.  Especially considering that it had to be from both Ianto and Jack's different perspectives.

Finally, as the tale came to a close, Alex had grown ever more silent and somber.  Ianto finished, "And the Atraxi took her, not even letting her finish her sentence to me, but she managed clear mention of you."

Alex leaned back and sighed, looking at Jack as he did so.  "I suspected something was up when our Jack said he would be going fishing.  He never has done that before."

* * * * * * * *

  
Days passed and the Doctor grew in strength again as the bad reaction to the cryonic drugs and physically traumatic intubation healed.  She was still sore and tender in spots, but she was now at least strong enough to walk around a bit, even if it was a bit of a shuffle.

The door opened and her father strode in, took in the fact that she was standing on her own and nodded his approval.  "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better than two days ago," she answered.

"Good, come with me," he held out his arm and she slid her arm into it.  He patted her hand in the crook of his arm with the other, pleased that she had accepted his gesture.  "If you feel like you need to rest, don't hesitate to tell me."

She nodded and he led her out.  "We started with a few TARDISes, mostly the ones built for war, and then we found a few ships made by other races out there.  First, we built a station to house us, and then we moved on when it became obvious it would not meet our needs.  We ran into Braxiatel on that planetoid everyone still insists on calling the Braxiatel Collection and he allowed us some leeway with it."

"Is that where we are now?" she asked.

"Yes, we are," he answered, smiling.  "Uncle Braxiatel hasn't been exactly pleased with us crowding him, but he's learned to live with it.  I suspect he missed us too, really."

"You mean he missed us as much as Grandfather missed us, and died never knowing his own family still lived," she stated, not coldly, but the intent was there.  "How could you let him believe he was the last, father?"

Hawke stopped dead in his tracks and for a long moment she could feel the rigid tenseness as he fought to control the rising anger from the mere mention of his father.  "I realize you think him to be wonderful," said Hawke finally.  "But you have to see this from my perspective.  He stole you from us and then, when the other Time Lords caught up to him you were nowhere to be found; they all thought you were dead.  I never believed it but when he wouldn't tell us... I'm sorry Arkytior, it had to be done."

"You regenerated your own father with your own two hands and then let the other Time Lords exile him to Earth," finished the Doctor.  "You flew the TARDIS back to earth and shattered the controls so that he couldn't leave, and you left him in that heath for UNIT to hopefully find, but in truth you likely didn't care either way if he breathed his last there or not.  Or spent his eternity and all his lives in some human lab being experimented on and you knew it could happen that way - especially given that time period!"

Hawke inclined his head, not angry at her, but not denying a word of it.  He knew it to be true and he wasn't going to deny it.  His father had gotten his just reward and had been lucky that the clueless apes had no idea what he was, and what they wanted to think he was their limited minds wouldn't let them believe.  Just as well UNIT had swept in when they did, but in reality Hawke couldn't have cared less at that point.  His father had ceased being his father when he had stolen Arkytior and the TARDIS.  "I do not have to justify myself - he broke our laws and he was lucky he did not receive his final death - you well know this Arkytioralarnalifanyare."

The Doctor winced by sheer reflex at hearing the full formal form of her personal name, even as she sighed inwardly and almost leaned into the comfort of hearing it correctly after so long.  Not even her Grandfather had used the full formal form of his name, let alone hers.  After leaving Gallifrey she had never heard it again.  Gallifreyan names, at least the first part - the one heard most often as a personal name - were formed by naming a child, then taking part of the parents names as the middle and second middle, and the last part was always the House name.  One name not only announced to others who the Gallifreyan was but also part of their genealogy.  A full formal name consisted of title, if such applied (it was rare they did not), their given name followed by, and usually rather redundantly but sometimes not, the name of the House they were currently affiliated with and then their Chapter.

Her father was quite proud of the fact that he was Ciryatur Farasonerilaifanyare e'Fanyarenosse e'Prydon; which literally meant Admiral Hawk, son of a word that defied translation, but possibly referred to her grandfather's name, which could have been referring to the fields in Old Gallifreyan, another that referred to Patience, and of course the proper translation of their House "Ancient Skies", which had always been mangled into Lungbarrow, followed by, of course, the fact that he was currently of House Fanyare, followed by the fact that he was of the Prydonian Chapter.  It was all very complex like that of the written form of their language.  It had not always been his name, but like her grandfather, it had become his name.  His birth name, the one given to him by the Doctor and Patience had been loosely translated as Alyanerethfanyare, or Alyan.

But that was neither here nor there, and had little to do with the fact that her father had felt the need to address her by her formal name.  "I don't deny that he broke them," she began.  "But he was justified in doing so.  I certainly do not regret leaving, will you also regenerate me?"

For a long moment Hawke didn't quite know what to say.  In truth, no, he could not regenerate his own child but that did not mean he would not if it was necessary.  The Doctor took this silence for her answer.  "You would."

He continued walking and she walked with him.  They met a few people in the wide hallway, and some of them... most of them... were human.  They were tourists, she realized.  What are tourists doing... then she knew where she was and she almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.

Where else would she be?

The planetoid, not far from the edges of the Human Empire, and ironically New Earth, known only as the Braxiatel Collection.  Uncle Irving's 'collection' was renowned throughout the known human empire as well as the alien others as the definitive article of historical art collections.  According to others, Irving Braxiatel was an extremely rich, and semi-eccentric, collector.  So much so that he had his own museum that was, to a certain extent, open to the public for a fee.  Other areas were strictly off limits and part of his private collection.  There had been rumours of the rarity and value within those halls.

They had no idea.

The collection, once you passed out of the human and the run of the mill alien became that of Gallifrey - a collection of artefacts, art and other items from the Time Lord's own home planet.  Only on Gallifrey itself could there be a more comprehensive collection.

Braxiatel was like that - he was a collector.  Nothing was beneath him and absolutely nothing beyond his reach should he decide his collection would not be complete without it.

"Who else has survived?" asked the Doctor, and then she couldn't help but let some of the hope she felt slip through into her voice.  "The Atraxi showed me you and Great-Grandmother Autumn.  Did... did she survive?"

Hawke stopped momentarily again, didn't answer, and then continued.  But she saw the set of his jaw change.  "Oh," murmured the Doctor, as she realized that no... Autumn had not.

The Atraxi had shown the elder's face in hopes of gaining a strong reaction, and they got it.  Or, Autumn had been here and she escaped.  The Doctor sincerely hoped it was the latter.

Hawke stopped in front of a set of double doors, which he then opened.  He motioned for the Doctor to precede him and she did so.  Hawke closed the doors behind him and followed her into the huge study.  It was made to look like an old English manor study, complete with wood bookshelves laden with leather bound books, heavy drapes on the tall windows, the oversized and intricately carved fireplace... and the large, hardwood desk behind which sat another Time Lord who was poring over a set of maps laid out on the desk's surface.  He looked up and let the maps roll with a decisive hiss of paper.  "Arkytioralarnalifanyare, it is lovely to see you up and around again... and I must say very wonderful to see you after so many centuries of us being apart," he said simply.

"Grand-Uncle Braxiatel," greeted the Doctor.  "I'm glad to see you still alive as well, but I must ask, have you given up on collecting art that you now collect the Time Lords themselves?"

For a long moment Braxiatel was silent and then he leaned back and laughed.  "Oh, Arkytioralarnalifanyare, you have grown up so much.  It was to be expected, I suppose.  The Atraxi tell me they found you on Earth, in the company of two men who represent something called Torchwood.  I have done much research on that organization, from its inception - which was quite fascinating, by the way - to what it is now.  Still quite interesting.  I must wonder how an alien, known as an alien, would get past the 'if it's alien it's ours' mode of operation."

"Jack and Ianto are friends," she stated simply.  "Jack is from the 51st century, Ianto of the 21st.  They travel with me now.  Our landing there was unintended, but given the outcome, rather fortuitous since it has brought me back into the company of my family.  However, I would appreciate going back."

"How do you travel with them?" asked Hawke in confusion.  "The Atraxi said they saw no ships or any sign of ships in the upper atmosphere or on their scans... and only your grandfather had the TARDIS, not you."

"I have the TARDIS now," she corrected, looking at them both, and then she sighed.  "I'm sorry it has to be me to say this... Grandfather is dead.  He died... he died a regeneration ago to me and approximately five years ago in my personal time line.  I have been travelling in his TARDIS, but it is now mine... and I do not use the name Arkytior anymore.  I use the name Grandfather took when you stripped him of his - I am the Doctor now."

She had to admit she could not have expected either of their reactions.  First, there was a silence in the room.  If not for the crackling of the fire in the fireplace, the old cliche about hearing a pin drop would have been accurate as both of them went silent, staring at her in shock and absolute horror.

And then they reacted.  Her father's reaction she expected, now that she knew he had regenerated the Second Doctor into the Third by his own hands.  Hawke was livid, and his demeanour held no regret in his father's own death.  "You did what?" shouted Hawke.  "Of all the stupid things to do Arky..."

"The Doctor," she interjected.

Her father took another breath, about to launch into a tirade when Braxiatel, after he had finally stopped laughing, held up his hand and said, "Enough Hawke.  We should have seen this coming - after all, had the reports not said that strangely there was the sighting of a female Doctor and we were both confused on how it could be?  Well, here's our answer."

"Where is Autumn?" asked the Doctor.

Braxiatel sighed.  "House arrest, with no access to any sonic devices or other means of escape, but treated as someone of her station should be otherwise, despite her actions."  He stood up, walked around the desk, looked at Hawke who gave way as he walked over to the Doctor, then leaned against the desk.  "She is my mother, after all.  The big question is whether you will share this house arrest or if you will agree to our terms - as the Doctor, I am sure you are aware of the suspicions we might have on how... agreeable... you may not be."

"I should have known there was a catch to this," she stated flatly.

The door opened and they turned.  The Doctor felt her jaw drop at the latest surprise, and she recoiled, backing into Braxiatel's desk in shock.  She turned to Braxiatel and Hawke.  "You know who he is, right?"

"Of course they do, Doctor," stated the Valeyard, still very much looking like Ten.  "Who do you think told them where you'd be?"

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT SEVEN**

* * * * * * * *

  
Ianto was relieved when Alex turned to his team and said, "I'm taking some personal time."

That meant they were going home.  It wasn't that he didn't enjoy running around the universe and time and space with the Doctor and Jack, but when she had been taken out from under his very nose he had been more than a little alarmed and worried that it meant he wouldn't... couldn't... go home.

Not that, if he had truly felt like it, he could not have waited out his time in Leadworth before heading back to Cardiff, but it was better not only be able to go home but know that she would have a rescue mounted.

And Autumn... oh God.  He could admit he still felt something for Autumn.  It had not been so long since Jack had unsuccessfully attempted to ret-con her, and when she had awoke from the sedating effect she left.  Now they would likely be going after both as where the Doctor was so too would Autumn be.

That was enough to make him stick around.

His feelings felt like a mess.  He loved Jack, lusted after him even, and had come to terms with being bisexual.  However, while it had been only weeks since the 456 incident to Ianto it had been decades to Jack... long enough that while Jack still loved him, and still felt something for him, his heart had moved on as it had to.

Irony would be that where it had moved on to was no other than the Doctor herself.

Ianto sighed.  Maybe once both the Doctor and Autumn were found they could sort this mess out.  Evidently, Autumn's own time line was pushed forward by centuries, not were months or years.  Long enough that she had watched her children grow into adults, and have his own children... grandchildren... and... a great-grandchild in the form of Alex.

He wondered if she had also moved on.

Jack was also deep in thought as he watched Alex run around the console in the familiar dance of piloting the TARDIS alone.  It was only after seeing this young Time Lord that he had a feeling he had not felt since the 456 wash over him and the horrible thing he had done hit him again.  The Doctor would have likely told him to find another way.

Hell, he could have told her and she could have helped him find another way.  But, as she said, it was a mess of fixed and flux points in time.  But, seeing Alex he wondered if his own grandson would have grown up like this young man.

He shook himself out of it as the TARDIS settled into a full landing, and the light from the rotor dimmed.  Alex looked at them both.  "We're back in 2013.  I didn't understand it until now, but our Jack told us that Ianto Jones came back, with you, in 2013 after everyone thought him dead.  Granted, seeing him step out of the TARDIS explained everything in the end, but still..."

Ianto nodded and went to the doors, turning and asking, "Where are we?"

"The Hub, rebuilt after your 456 incident.  Should be right to the right of the cog door," answered Alex.

Ianto took a breath, then took hold of the doors and pulled them open and stepped out and looked around the Hub that he hadn't seen in weeks, but to them he had been gone for three bloody years.  He saw Gwen stand up, her hand going to her mouth in shock, and then Martha came up from autopsy, and she also stood still in shock.  There were others he didn't know at all, but, wait... two he did.  The other three he didn't.  He recognized the two blonde women as Jackie and Rose Tyler, but the black man, the balding white man in a very nice suit and the boy that looked no older than Alex did he didn't.  There was also another dark haired man who looked at him in surprise that Ianto didn't know.

"I see our team has grown," said Ianto clearly as he stepped out further, as professional as he always had been.

"Ianto?!" asked Gwen after she finally found her voice.  "What?  How... but... you're dead!"  Moments later she made the connection.  "Oh my God, I'm going to kiss her."

Jack came out, grinning.  "I'd pay to see that.  Girl on girl... mmmm... oh..." Jack changed tracks as he walked forward and Alex followed him out, turning and locking the door behind him.  "Everyone, this is Ianto Jones... Ianto, you remember Gwen and Martha, that's Pete Tyler, his wife Jackie and their children Rose and Tim..."

"It's Tony you bloody git!" shouted Jackie.

"Right... Tony... that's Mickey Smith, Martha's husband... it's complicated... and you remember... there the hell is Rhys anyway?" asked Jack.

"Out getting coffee," answered Gwen.

"Typical."

"Out getting coffee?" asked Ianto in shock.

"No one made it like you, sweetheart," stated Jack.  "Anyway, continuing... and that's Alonso Frame... again, it's complicated..."  Jack took another breath.  "Alex, that's Gwen and Martha."

"I've heard all about them."  Alex smiled at everyone.  "Hello."

"Everyone, you remember Ianto or you heard about him," Jack said, slapping Ianto on the shoulder and letting him go be hugged by Gwen.  "Everyone, this is Alexander Campbell, the... future... Director of Torchwood Vancouver.  By future I mean 22nd Century."

"Actually, more like 23rd, my mother met my father in the 22nd century, but enough time has passed that it's actually the 23rd where we just came from," corrected Alex.

"Right, 23rd century.  Alex is... erm... how the heck do I explain you?"

"Right, well," began Alex.  "That's complicated, to borrow your term.  But, I am the son of Susan Foreman-Campbell and David Campbell... Susan is the female 'Doctor' you are familiar with, and her grandfather is the original Doctor who flew this old thing."

Alex tapped the TARDIS.  "In other words I'm the Doctor's great-grandson and, as Jack said, the future Director of Torchwood Vancouver.  I am also, as you've likely figured, half-human, but completely Time Lord... as in fully trained by my mother to handle that heritage even if I did not have the privilege of going through the actual Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey."

For a long moment no one said anything as they absorbed this.  "So..." asked Pete.  "Where's the Doctor?"

"Remember back in 2010 when the Atraxi invaded looking for something called Prisoner Zero?" asked Jack, and he saw those who had been around in this universe for that nod.  "Long story short, we were there, and the Atraxi took the Doctor.  No, she wasn't Prisoner Zero, but they were also looking for survivors of the Time War for some sort of collector.  In exchange for learning the name of this collector, she agreed to go with them willingly.  They told her, and she told us to chase after her."

"You mean to tell us that the Doctor has been in captivity for three years while you three went to get Alex?" asked Martha in shock.  "Why didn't you go after her?"

"Because they won't be able to alone," answered Alex.  "The TARDIS, on an emergency protocol, was programmed to go on one last trip, with them or without them, to come back to me.  As soon as it materialized and they came out and no sign of my mother I knew something wasn't right, and thankfully they were able to fill me in.  I know where we need to go but it will not be easy.  I brought them both home.  I know what I must do.  This collector wants Time Lords, I'll give him a Time Lord but I won't be going easily."

Jack turned around in shock.  "What do you mean 'you'?"

* * * * * * * *

  
The Valeyard led the Doctor through the corridors and up to the second floor, through more corridors until they reached a guarded door.  With a nod, the guards opened the door and the Valeyard pushed the Doctor through into the sitting room within.  The woman within stood up, her hands flying to her mouth at the sight of them both.

The Doctor stopped fighting and stared.  She had the strangest feeling of being two people at once.  One was a son relieved and moved to tears at the sight of his mother safe and unharmed.  The other was herself, and, while she had not been as close to this woman as her grandfather had been, she too was relieved to see that she lived.

Autumn rushed over and hugged them both as the door closed.  "Oh, my children.  My beautiful children."  She sniffled through tears as well as she stepped back to look at them both.  "I know you both come from me but your Time Lines are... strange.  I know you but yet they seem overwritten."

"Great-grandmother..." started the Doctor.  "Mother."

Autumn looked at the Doctor in confusion, lifting her chin to look into the Doctor's eyes.  "What have you done, my son?"

It was then that the Doctor felt the strangest sensation, as if she split into two.  One was herself, the other was... him... "She held me as I died," answered the Doctor through her.  "With no Matrix and outside of the TARDIS I could not go anywhere and she held on to me... became me..."

The Doctor blinked and the two feelings settled again.  "Oh Rassilon, what have I allowed to happen?" she wondered.

She was aware of someone holding her, and then guiding her to sit down.  She sat heavily into an overstuffed and comfortable chair.  "What in the name of Rassilon did you let him do to you?!" demanded the Valeyard, grasping her shoulders.  "What did you do?"

"You know what I did," she answered, looking him in the eye.

He took a breath and breathed out, staring at her in the eyes and she saw the look of horror and sorrow in the brown eyes.  "He never should have gone to you... if he hadn't he would have simply dissipated into the stars... like he should have... not done this to you," he shook his head.  "I'm sorry, Susan... so sorry..."

"You called me Susan," said the Doctor, surprised, then she put a hand to his face.  "You're still you, aren't you?  Beneath the anger and everything there is still you."

He swallowed thickly and looked away.  "I believe I am owed an explanation," said Autumn from behind them.  "You clearly know something I do not."

"Forgive me, Mother..." said the Valeyard as he stood up.  "I should have told you upon entering who I am."

"I'm sorry, I know I had two sons, and one is dead and the other owns the very gilded cage I am kept in, I do not know you," she stated.

"Great-Grandmother, he is the Valeyard," answered the Doctor, and Autumn took two very large, horrified, steps back.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"I am complicated," he admitted.

"One Christmas, when a race called the Sycorax invaded Earth, your younger son, the one known as the Doctor, fought their leader in a sword fight.  The Sycorax cut off his right hand, and it fell to the Earth below.  It was found and kept by an organization known as Torchwood and their leader, of that location, Jack Harkness," answered the Doctor.

Autumn turned to them.  "I know who he is."

"What?" asked the Valeyard, shocked.  "But..."

"I was... younger then... so much younger then.  I went to Earth, and I stayed for awhile and relished my freedom.  This was after I was... abandoned... and my two sons were in the Academy.  I had no one left... so I left in a TARDIS and came to Earth.  I met a young human man by the name of Ianto and he was... he was wonderful," she said, lost in the memories.  "And then something happened that his colleague Mr. Harkness felt was wrong.  He attempted to use a substance known as ret-con on me.  So I left and never went back."

"Do you miss Ianto?" asked the Doctor.

"Yes, sometimes."

The Valeyard snorted, and Autumn pointed to him.  "Still doesn't explain who he is and how the Valeyard who was always an enemy of my son is now family."

"That hand would eventually be returned to the Doctor," answered the Valeyard.  "He'd keep the thing in the console room, not exactly sure what to do with it."

"A few years later, he would be shot by a Dalek, come close to regenerating... so close that he did, but he used what energy he needed to heal, but sent the rest to the hand and so did not change, nor spend an actual regeneration," answered the Doctor finally.  "The hand would be touched by a human woman, and would cause a two-way biological meta-crisis.  Out of the hand came him, and the human woman..."

Neither of them finished, knowing how it ended and Autumn didn't need to know that.  Autumn looked from the Valeyard to the Doctor and back again.  "I see," she said simply.   "But I don't see how you would think that makes you my son."

"How can I not be?!" demanded the Valeyard.  "I am him.  I came from him... he made me!"

"Like a child would... and that is what I see here.  You are his son, and the son of this human woman, even if she didn't carry you." Autumn sat down.  "But it doesn't make you any less her child as well.  You are the result of two parents who had equal responsibility for what you are.  I am sorry, I am not your mother.  It would be more accurate to call me your grandmother, however."

For a long moment the Valeyard was speechless, and then, he calmed and nodded as he realized her point.  "Quite right.  I am sorry for lashing out at you, Grandmother."

"Now, what happened to cause a generational confusion in you?" Autumn turned her attention to the Doctor.  "How are you my son and also my great-grandchild?"

"I can explain that," said the Valeyard.  "She took his name and his TARDIS and is continuing his Legacy.  More than that she also has his memories, he used her like he would the Matrix when he died."

Autumn nodded, and then the Doctor sighed.  "So, that would make him my Uncle then?"

* * * * * * * * *

  
Hawke entered the study and regarded his Uncle as he closed the door.  Braxiatel looked up, sighed in long suffering patience, and leaned back in his chair.  "Are the experiments showing any results yet?" asked Hawke.

"You remind me of someone else I grew up with," said Braxiatel with mild regret.  "And they did not turn out well."

"I am not my father!" shouted Hawke angrily, whirling back around to face his Uncle.

"I have to agree with you there."  Braxiatel's tone was now mildly sharp, and Hawke realized it wasn't the Doctor that Braxiatel was referring to but someone else.

"Stop dancing around the subject, Uncle, and fill me in."

"Very well, if you insist."

* * * * * * * * *

 **ACT EIGHT**

* * * * * * * * *

  
The lights flickered and there was even some moments when they went out entirely, although they came back up just as quickly.  The Doctor looked from Autumn to the Valeyard and asked, "Is this normal?"

Neither answered although they did look at each other.  She suddenly got the feeling that it wasn't normal and they both knew what was going on.  This was interesting because it told her that Autumn was not doing anything about it, unless whatever had resulted in her house arrest stemmed from that, and the Valeyard not being there meant he also knew, but was not privy to it.

Which was strange as a mere hour ago it had appeared that he was from what had happened in the study... or had it?  Braxiatel and Hawke had let him take her to Autumn.  But now she thought that perhaps they had ordered him to take her to Autumn to get him out their way.  "What is going on?" asked the Doctor again.

"All in good time," said the Valeyard.

"Ask your father or Braxiatel - it is their pet project," answered Autumn, the disgust in her voice evident.

"What?" asked the Doctor, confused.  "What could cause that?"

The Valeyard sighed, and then wilted under the weight of Autumn's glare.  "Hawke and Braxiatel are experimenting on creating soldiers; through intensive training and hypno-training on genetically compatible species.  They'd been attempting to create a soldier race that will not cost Time Lord lives."

The Doctor recoiled and sat down in disbelief.  "What race?"

"Humans," answered Autumn sharply.  "Human lives instead of Time Lord.  Humanity being the most genetically adaptable and compatible species out there.  Who else could be so malleable?"

She felt sort of proud that she managed to keep herself from throwing up for so long, but eventually she had no choice but to make a fast dash to the nearest bin to empty the contents of her stomach.  That done, she shoved it aside with a wrinkled nose.  "What would bring my father to even consider such a thing?"

The Valeyard stood up, a very dark look in his eyes.  The Doctor was surprised to see it.  It was the same look her grandfather was known for when he encountered something that angered him.  Not in a petulant or vicious manner, but rocked him to his moral core and angered him that way.  The look that said he didn't like what he was seeing but at the moment he was unable to do anything about what was happening.  "The war unhinged him, I think," said the Valeyard finally.  "For him the war between the Time Lords and the Daleks has not yet ended... and perhaps... never will.  At least it won't end with Hawke as the nominal leader of the Time Lords.  Hawke is an Admiral, militant and unbending.  To his mind the war is not over and can never be over until every single last Dalek is gone and hang the consequences."

"What about Braxiatel?  Why is he going along with this?" asked the Doctor.

"I can't speak for him," said the Valeyard.  "In truth, I don't know why he is, but I suspect that Hawke has Uncle Brax by his Time Lord balls somehow."  He ignored the aghast look from Autumn and the Doctor both at his choice of words.  "Let's not mention that Hawke was voted as the interim leader of what is left of Gallifrey out of fear and the misguided belief that he can protect them all."

"Once Hawke took over, any who spoke against him found themselves under house arrest," said Autumn.  "I was not the first, but when he silenced me I fear he silenced others who might have had a chance against him.  After all, if he will silence his own grandmother, and regenerate his father, what limit does he have?"

The Doctor sighed, looking from one to the other and back again.  "He's not encountered me yet.  I won't let this happen."

"I only hope you can do something," said Autumn.  "Else we are all doomed to actually fade into nothing."

* * * * * * * *

  
While they kept looking at Alex with open doubt given his age, or the apparent lack thereof, they had had to listen to him in the fact that he at least knew more about the Time Lords from his mother than they did.  He had been raised knowing what it was to be a Time Lord where they had not.  "We have to know where they took her in the first place," pointed out Pete.  "Where is the Atraxi home world?"

"In the grand scheme of things, not far.  At least not far by TARDIS, even this old thing."  He patted the console.  "And I think we need to take someone there to find this out, however, we have one TARDIS, and even if we had another one, we only have one person to pilot - me."

"So, let's go to the Atraxi and demand they tell us where she is," said Jackie.  "I won't stand by knowing that poor dear, after all she's done to help us, be held prisoner by some aliens."

"Jacks, technically..." started Mickey.

"Oh shut it," snapped Jackie.  "Alien or no, she's family... and so are you, you poor dear.  You're too young to be leadin' some outfit like this.  What was she thinkin'?"

"That I am one hundred and three and capable of making my decisions, no matter how young I look," answered Alex.  "Gallifreyans reach the age of majority at ninety-five, finish the Academy at one hundred and eight and become Time Lords if they qualified to enter it in the first place, and are often married by one hundred and twenty-five, if their Kithriarch has anything to say about it."

"Their what?" asked a confused Mickey.

"A Kithriarch is the head of the House, and therefore the patriarch, or matriarch if female, of all family units in that House.  It's usually the eldest of the House.  Gallifreyan society is... was... somewhat caste based.  It was split into Chapters, which held the Houses.  Houses were extended family, not just the immediate family.  The Kithriarch led the entire family in its familial affairs, although private matters were always just that unless they became public," explained Alex.  "From what my mother told me, she, and her grandfather, were born of the House known as Fanyare, which was often...mangled... into Lungbarrow by some translations but was actually closer... well... as close as you can get anyway from Gallifreyan into English... to Ancient Skies, although that's still not quite it either."

"Pronounce that again, please?" asked Rose.

"Fah - nehyah - ray," enunciated Alex carefully, and then he said it quicker, but still spitting into the syllables.  "Fa-nya-re.  Whenever there is a 'nya' or 'rya' that syllable is always separate, not that you'll hear it again, but it's one way to tell our language from any other.  Anyway, now is not the time for a language lesson.  We should be figuring out who is going with me, since you have all decided that I am not going alone."

"Can you blame us?" asked Gwen.  "Your mother would not approve of that.  Why do you think she sent Jack and Ianto to you if not to ask for information from you and what they should do next."

"Us?" asked Ianto.

"Well, who else?" stated Gwen.

"While we know we all have to go in the TARDIS, those of us going," said Pete as he presided over the meeting again.  "We should decided who is one who's team.  I suggest Jack, Ianto and Alex each lead a team.  One will stay on the TARDIS, and I suggest that be Alex as he can pilot the TARDIS."

"To a point, so can I," said Jack.  "So perhaps I should also be on his team so he has back-up."

"I agree," said Alex.  "The TARDIS, while possible to pilot by myself, is easier and more steady with at least three pilots.  Does anyone else have any experience flying her?"

Rose tentatively put up her hand.  "I learned from... from the Valeyard when he was still..." she trailed off, cleared her throat and then her voice was stronger.  "Anyway, I learned a few things.  Enough to serve as a third."

"Great, that's the TARDIS taken care of."  Pete nodded.  "Now, field teams and search teams.  No, Tony, you're not going."

"But Dad!"

"No buts!" chided Jackie.  "You're staying wit' me and your father."

"Now Jacks, I was thinking of..."

"No!  I did not get you back to have to go swanning off in the TARDIS like my Rose did wit' the Doctor." Jackie was adamant.  "You're staying with us.  Someone will need to keep this place runnin'.  No offense Gwen, but you've a family now with that sweet little one."

"None taken," stated Gwen.  "I agree with you on that.  Pete, we need you here.  You have more experience running a Torchwood than I do, and without Jack to run it you're the best qualified to do so."

Pete sighed a long suffering sigh.  "Oh all right, I'm staying!  Let me suggest the field team consist of Ianto, which for some reason I get the feeling he has more experience dealing with Time Lords than..."

"Autumn was the Doctor's mother."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Gwen.  "You mean the Doctor as in the original... or the granddaughter?"

"He means the original," answered Alex.  "Autumn, if we're thinking the same one here, is my... let me think... she is my great-great grandmother."

"But how?" asked Gwen.  "She was so young when she accidentally brought you that coffee... this was right before Jack came back and... before Owen was killed... it doesn't make any sense...."

"Time Lord," said Jack and Ianto at once, then Ianto finished.  "It's complicated."

There were more than a few surprised faces, and then Martha started to laugh.  "Last of the Time Lords, my arse."

* * * * * * * * * *

  
In a large subterranean chamber that didn't look like it was other than the lack of windows to the outside, Hawke watched in satisfaction as he walked between the rows and rows of training humans.  The reflexes of the latest batch was almost on par with the target that he was aiming for, their physical abilities tweaked to the point where they were no longer wholly human as much as they looked completely human.

No, now they were closer to being Gallifreyan, although not Time Lord.  They never could be a Time Lord, and that suited Hawke just fine.

He looked up to the glassed in observation room where Braxiatel watched, his expression completely and totally neutral.  The Valeyard stood just behind him, and his expression was also carefully guarded.

Hawke allowed a small, satisfied smile before he walked up to the observation room and stood with them.  "The chances of a paradox happening is abnormally large if this gets out of hand," stated Braxiatel.

Hawke nodded his understanding.  "We're Time Lords - time belongs to us."

The Valeyard looked up and over at Braxiatel, noticing that Braxiatel looked as shaken by the statement.  Braxiatel looked down at the training humans, and took a breath before releasing it slowly and schooling his expression back to normal again.

* * * * * * * * *

  
The shadowed corridor flared to sudden life, and then faded again as the flash of light subsided.  A figure darted to the side, hiding in the shadows and the corner, looking around to make sure that they had not been seen.

The figure flipped the Vortex Manipulator's display closed so that even the glow disappeared before slipping out into the garden, unseen and silent as a set of guards walked by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO BE CONCLUDED  
> in  
> CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
> LOVE AND WAR (Part Three)
> 
> The explosive season finale - The Time Lord faction known as the Hidden, led by the original Doctor's son, known as Admiral Hawke, and the new Doctor and her Companions come head to head with the returning threat in the form of an upgraded and deadlier form of Dalek and their new allies known only as the Sleepers. It leads to an unholy alliance of Time Lord and Dalek as the Sleepers are a threat that not even the Daleks can control or take care of without their help, but will it turn into a full out battle royale in the end?
> 
> * * * * * * * * *
> 
> A/N: One last episode and the season is done, except for the special afterwards. Sorry about how long it's taking to get these out, especially since the May Day special won't be for May Day anymore but for Midsummer in June.


	13. Love and War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The explosive season finale - The Time Lord faction known as the Hidden, led by the original Doctor's son, now known as Hawke, and the new Doctor and her Companions come head to head with the returning threat in the form of an upgraded and deadlier form of Daleks from the Time War itself as the Time Lock cracks around Gallifrey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RECAP
> 
> In Eleventh Hour Redux, the Doctor, Jack and Ianto found that they were chasing around Eleven during the very first few hours of his life as Eleven. When the Atraxi caught up with Fifteen, they told her that their contract also included collecting surviving Time Lords and taking them to a man who had paid them to do so - a Professor Irving. The Doctor agreed to go with them to get the name and then sent Jack and Ianto forwards into the future to find her son Alex.
> 
> It picked up in All Is Not Fair with the Doctor waking from cryo-sleep to find that her suspicions about the mysterious Professor Irving were correct at that he was the original Doctor's brother, Irving Braxiatel. She was further surprised when she was reunited with Hawke, her father and the original Doctor's son. However, things went sideways very quickly when they revealed the person responsible for her betrayal was the Valeyard, but she soon realized that the Valeyard seemed to have another role and that they were not actually working with him... he was as much a prisoner at the Collection as she. After a semi-joyous reunion with Autumn, the original Doctor's mother, the new Doctor realizes that she has her work cut out for her as her father Hawke has plans to crack the Time Lock, send his genetically modified troops to the surface to fight the Daleks and save Gallifrey - or rule it. Meanwhile Alex and the others band together to find trace of where his mother was taken.
> 
> AND NOW THE CONCLUSION OF THE FAN-SERIES SEASON FINALE

* * * * * * * * * *

 **ACT NINE**

* * * * * * * * * *

  
Months passed, and while she could have kept better track as she was a Time Lord, the Doctor found that she couldn't be bothered.  Nor was there any point in keeping a diary.  It would have read the same way each day anyway.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _My father had me watch the training of his neo-human shock troops again and report on their progress.  I had morning coffee with the Valeyard - who is a complicated mess but still my Uncle and not my grandfather (although he and I both share the same memories to a point) and afternoon tea with my great-grandmother, who is still trying to find a way out of her gilded cage._

 _It's been a long, and dreadfully boring and morally murky day._

 _I'm going to sleep now._

 _Arkytior (The Doctor)_

No, best to leave such a thing murky so that even she did not have to face it until later.  Compartmentalizing things was a Time Lord speciality.  Better to say everything was fine when they were definitely, most decidedly not fine and let others believe your lies than to rail and scream uselessly against someone that much more powerful than you.  Better to save one's dignity and look for a tiny crack in their armour than rail like a gnat on a brick wall.

That was her lift now and, for a while she had railed against it.  She had vehemently refused.  Her father's response was to also throw her into house arrest, only hers was solitary with only the rarest of visits from either him, the Valeyard or Braxiatel.  It was the Valeyard who finally coaxed her into accepting her role to at least oversee the recruits in the field.  She would not have to do anything else, but at least do this one thing and she would be allowed her limited freedom back.

One day had merged into another until they were all a blur.

Until finally, one night she found herself in Autumn's bedroom, laying under the covers and listening to twin heartsbeat and she found her hearts breaking again at how much she missed this, missed her mother, missed Grandfather and... while he was not even a planet away... missed the father she used to have before the monster he'd become replaced him.  She cried then, finally, with Autumn's arms around her, trying to soothe her.

"... and I hate this," finished the Doctor, letting the older Time Lord wipe away her tears.  "I see the passes come back from the Library and then remains... nothing but bleached bones... of those who failed to run the gauntlet.  When I let the Vashta Nerada have that Library..."

"... When you grandfather did, child."  Autumn frowned again, reminded of what she had sensed when the young woman had walked into the room - the strange duality within her psyche.

Hawke, when Autumn had voiced that concern, had finally allowed her access into doing some research on psychic possession.  She didn't like what she was seeing, but she had not told her grandson about it either.  

The Doctor coughed slightly, clearing her throat.  "Right, my grandfather did that, anyway when they were allowed the Library the deal was that it was theirs, not for some other faction to come in and use it as some sick testing ground.  Let the dead rest."  She laid her head on the pillows and was quiet for at least five spans.  

Autumn let a breath out in relief, believing that her granddaughter had fallen asleep – but then she woke five minutes later.  "I keep trying to find a way to stop them but I haven't been able to."

"Patience, child, is the one thing afforded a Time Lord," said Autumn finally.  "It's our one consolation is that we are gifted with the ability to wait, and plan, and then wait for those plans to come to fruition."

The Doctor sat up and looked down at the older Time Lord and, for the first time, saw what her grandfather had seen all those centuries ago when they had first left Gallifrey.  She saw the reason why in painful clarity.  Then, she had only understood a bit of it, and had trusted her elder's decision and followed him into the TARDIS and away, never knowing with this sudden clarity why she had done so.

And, with his memories, she saw that he wasn't all that different from them - but he at least saw the problem and tried to escape it with varying degrees of success.

Gallifrey was falling long before the war ever broke out.  Its own hubris had seen to it.  The only thing the war did was burn away the rotted carcass it had become.  It fell because it had to - it could no longer support its own complacency and arrogance, or conceal the cancerous rot of corruption that ran freely through it.

Worse yet – and yes, she could see it now – was that not one Time Lord was free of its taint in the end.

Not even her.

* * * * * * * * *

  
Alexander Campbell had settled into 21st century Earth, and Torchwood, with the ease borne of long years having to settle in after seeing change after change occur.  He fell into place among them, and often served as a buffer between UNIT and Torchwood, and then often between the two human organizations and any aliens that happened to find themselves lost on Earth, and then as its defender when the aliens were not so friendly.

He was secretly relieved to not have to be the Director anymore, but knew once his mother returned that he would go back and likely not even a day would have passed since he'd left it.

Jack fell into his usual role within Torchwood, and caught up quickly.  It was a good thing too because they were called away to the US and he took Ianto, Rose, Mickey and Alonso with him.  He would have taken Gwen, but Gwen refused on the grounds that her child was still too young and she was technically still on maternity leave.  Martha had planned on going, but had come rushing back after an appointment out, pulled Mickey and Jack into Jack's office for an hour and when Jack had come out, he had been grinning ear to ear.  "We've got another Torchwood baby on the way!" he announced.

Needless to say, Martha wasn't going anywhere either.

With Pete on this world instead of the tattered remains of the others, Torchwood Three had been reorganized in Jack's absence.  Peter Tyler had taken over the reins of running it as Director, with Jackie serving as an administrative aide to the entire office.  Tony insisted on helping, and while he was too young for field work he did well working in the tourist centre, or helping Martha in autopsy.  First, behind his parent's back and then with at least Pete's permission while he tried to smooth things over with a very upset Jackie.  When Tony announced he wanted to be a medic, and then a doctor, like Martha, that had done much to smooth things over.  Gwen served as the Torchwood liaison to UNIT, which meant they rarely saw her but also meant she was closer to family in the end... not to mention it was much less classified and meant Rhys could finally somewhat say what his wife did to others if they asked.

The field team changed drastically, as now it meant they technically had the personnel for three two people teams.  One had consisted of Martha, but with her pregnancy she found herself sidelined.  The first team was Jack and Jake, the second Rose and Alonso and the third was Mickey and Ianto.  Pete had felt that certain relationships between certain people were not... proper... in a working relationship and had assigned them accordingly.  Gwen, when she saw the new way of handling things, had jokingly said, "It's like those American cop shows with the partners..."

Jack hit on Jake once.  It had only taken once for Jake to tell him off, and that while he found Jack a great person and all, he didn't swing that way.  Jack didn't ask again, nor did he flirt as much as he could have, respecting Jake's limits.  Eventually, they grew into what Martha nicknamed the "bro-mance", not lovers but definitely brothers from different mothers.  The same was said of the other two sets of partners and the interplay, and protective streaks, grew from there.

That had been over two years ago.

Now, Alex, much used to his new role in Torchwood allowed himself to take Tony out in the field once to see what he was capable of, and to take charge of his training.  Pete had been impressed with Alex's coolness in the field, as well as obvious leadership, and had offered him the job of Assistant Director numerous times.  Well out of earshot of Jack, but the answer had always been a polite, "No, I have my own Torchwood and my mother to find."

It was then that he noticed the potential in Rose and asked her to help him find the Doctor.  At first, she was surprised.

"Why me?" she asked plainly.

"Well, you look like you're about to go bonkers here," he answered truthfully.  "And you've been out there."

"So has Jack, Ianto, even Mickey.  And definitely Martha, who is brilliant, by the way."

"Yes, but you have a degree now as well, don't you?  So you're brilliant."

"Yeah, my archaeology degree," Rose answered, rolling her eyes.  "What good does that do you?"

"Lots," answered Alex.  "And, you've an investigative sense or you wouldn't work here.  You can handle yourself in a situation.  You are otherwise not tied down either."

Rose let her eyebrows rise up finally.  "Ah, it comes out finally."

"What do you mean by that?" he asked plainly.

"Please don't do that.  I realize you're his great-grandson and all, but... you don't have to be him," she said, looking away.

"Wasn't trying to be.  I only met him once and that was a long time ago when I was in my teens.  My literal teens, and I'm one hundred and eight now, so think about that," he answered, rolling his eyes as well.

"Alex!" shouted Pete.  "Come up here!  I have something for you to see."

Alex sighed, then smiled at Rose and was rewarded with a smile back.  "Duty calls and all that."

"Yeah, so it does."

"Think about it, please?" he asked.  "I'll only ask you again."

"God, you're as bad as he was, you know that?"

* * * * * * * *

  
Alex knocked on the door and then walked in, looking around at the stuff on Pete's desk and in this office.  He had seen Jack's office and now he saw Pete's.  Pete's was more organized and upscale than Jack's.  Cleaner and brighter as well.  "Alex, I think we just got a break in your case," said Pete as he called up a set of fuzzy pictures on the big screen.

Peering at them, Alex was shocked to recognize one of the two men on it.  "Is that..."

"The Valeyard, yes," answered Jack.

"Where was this taken?" asked Alex.

"Not too far from here in the grand scheme of things," answered Pete.  "A group of aliens, Vinvocci, if I'm not mistaken, saw these two on one of their stations.  They had a ship that was too far advanced, unlike anything they'd seen before.  When they asked which human colony they were from that smartly dressed one, the elder one, snapped back that they were not backwards apes.  The one thing they heard clearly was the term 'the Hidden'."

"The Hidden?" asked Ianto.

"Yeah, that's what they called themselves," answered Pete.

"It's a faction," said Alex.  "The warrior caste on Gallifrey was named that.  My grandfather was obsessed with them.  It seems he did more than that - he joined them or resurrected them.  Either way it confirms that the Atraxi were likely working, unknowingly or knowingly, for Time Lords."

Rose looked at the picture of the Valeyard as she came in and heard the last part.  "It'd figure he'd have his fingers in this."

"Where was this taken?" asked Alex.

Pete handed him the coordinates and the date given to him from the Vinvocci.  Alex looked at it, reading it over before finally nodding and looking up.  "Time to call in the teams and pick up the trail.  I can confirm who the other one is - that's Irving Braxiatel, my mother's great-uncle, the original Doctor's elder brother."

"You know where he is, then?" asked Pete.

"Yeah.  I do."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT TEN**

* * * * * * * *

  


Everyone had been recalled.  It didn't matter where from or from what mission they had originally been sent on.  Even Gwen, the liaison to UNIT, had been recalled for this one thing as Pete felt that perhaps it was best to keep UNIT in the loop just in case things went sideways so badly that whatever was coming spilled onto Earth as well.  Through UNIT the ever mysterious, and oft dangerous to deal with (if you were alien) Section Seven from the US had been notified of a possible alien operation with human aide going sideways.

With a sigh, according to UNIT, their liaison, a strange man who knew a little too much about the Doctor from the FBI had said, "Somehow, in regards to the Doctor I'm not all that surprised."

Canton had also been a bit more than surprised when he asked what 'he' - meaning the Doctor - had been up to this time and been told that she had gone missing.  "She?!" Canton had asked.  "And what do you mean missing?  Listen, with the TARDIS she could literally..."

"Canton... the TARDIS is on Earth... but she is not," had answered the Brig.  "And, at least until I have a firm understanding of how you would know about the TARDIS or the Doctor, I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

"Can you at least tell me if she's all right when you find her?"

"That I can promise you," answered Sir Alistair.

"That's all I'm asking," said Canton.  "And... good luck... you'll need it."

This they had heard from Gwen when she returned, and when she asked about it, Jack simply stated, "Don't ask me - we're talking about an alien that could have been literally thousands of years old when he died, and I only knew him for a fraction of that.  It's entirely possible that he had dealings with this Canton Delaware III after he regenerated and I wouldn't have known anything about it."

Alex had found the fact fascinating, but had moved on to more important matters.  Pete noticed this and nodded towards Jack, who also nodded in understanding.  Over the years, Alex had not only grown more mature but also more quiet.  Rose had noticed this first as the young Time Lord had slowly withdrawn away from the others.  At first, he had been marginally interested in Rose and had spent time outside of work and Torchwood with Tony and then Sarah Jane's son Luke.  But, then that had fallen off gradually until he had spent more and more time alone.

Today, when it seemed he should be a bit more animated he was the most withdrawn and quiet as he had ever been.

Jack sat down beside the young man and watched as Alex tapped away on his laptop.  As usual, the Time Lord was going over the evidence and other clues, trying to find what they could have missed.  He looked up when Jack sat across from him at the conference table.  "Hey, Alex," started Jack, aware of how awkward a start that was, but there was no way the conversation wouldn't be awkward.  "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think there is anything wrong?" asked Alex, looking back at the computer.

"You've been quiet," said Jack.  "Real quiet.  As in, not like you quiet."

Alex looked up with a heavy sigh and stared at Jack.  For a moment Jack was reminded of the second Doctor he'd ever met - the Valeyard's twin - and the Tenth Incarnation.  He had the same stare that stated he didn't feel like talking but was too tired to deny that something was bothering him.  "I am one hundred and eight today, if you must know.  If I had been on Gallifrey, in a few weeks I would be graduating from the Time Lord Academy.  We have been searching for my mother with very little success for years.  To the point that a conventional police service would have relegated this case into the cold case files."

"That's not a problem here, if that's what you're worried about," pointed out Jack, a bit more sharply than he intended.

Alex lifted a brow at this, but didn't say anything.  If anything, it had the unintended affect of bringing a small smile to his face, even if it was more or a smirk, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.  "But there's something else eating at you other than your age, kid," said Jack.  "Even we can see it.  So, spill."

"My mother is cunning, and if years have passed to us who knows how long has passed for her?"

Ianto came in at this point and put a hand on his shoulder.  "She's stronger than you think."

"That isn't the point," said Alex, rubbing a hand on his face.  "If that much time has passed why hasn't she escaped on her own yet?  My great-grandfather escaped his own people on his own many times, and my mother has his memories.  But, we haven't a single sign of her.  That tells me she isn't able to or she is choosing not to.  And I don't which is worse."

The others were filtering into the room at this point, and it was Martha who said, as she sat down a cup of tea in front of him.  "Isn't a good thing that she is reunited with family?  I remember our Doctor being absolutely torn up that Gallifrey, and his family, were all dead by appearances."

Alex shook his head.  "There is a reason your Doctor left Gallifrey and took my mother with him."  He sighed, then sent what he had on his laptop to the big screen.  "Anyway, let's get down to business.  This is what we know - the Valeyard and Braxiatel appear to be working together.  I have no idea who is leading what, but I have my suspicions.  Braxiatel is the elder of the two brothers, so it stands to reason that as the eldest he's likely in charge.  That gives an idea of where to start looking."

He again hit a button and then an art museum, a huge art museum, on a planetoid and in a time period after Earth had burned.  Jack looked up and began to laugh.  "Is that the... oh no way... he wouldn't be that obvious would he?"

"Uncle Braxiatel was... is... arrogant to a fault.  He believes nothing can touch him." Alex leaned back in his chair.  "This is the Braxiatel collection.  It has artwork, some of it unique and rare as hell, as well as historical artifacts.  Many things gone 'missing' have been 'found' in this collection.  For years, sorry, no, centuries the owner, one Professor Irving Braxiatel, refused admittance to the general public.  The Human Empire finally convinced him, with a generous donation to continue his work as well as support to employ others, to allow limited access to tourists.  And when I say limited, I mean limited.  The public is allowed access to only approximately ten percent of the total collection.  It's still an impressive amount.  However, what is interesting about this is that recently Braxiatel took on some added security - people from a company, suspected to be a shell company for something else entirely, called Hidden Assets."

"It's them," said Rose.  "It has to be."

"That's what I think." Alex agreed with her idea.  "It could be a major coincidence, but coincidence and Braxiatel doesn't happen."  He brought up another picture, which was the very touristy map of the area around the collection, as well as within.  "Here's my plan.  It's one part sneak in and one part walk right in the front door.  I plan to materialize the TARDIS right in the front entrance and walk out.  Hopefully, that should cause enough of a stir with the tourists as well as with security - and the other Time Lords, that those we are sneaking in will go unnoticed."

"So, who's going with you?" asked Mickey.

"No one during that point - it has to appear that I came alone or this plan is a bust.  One team will sneak in - when I say sneak, I mean right at the bottom of the planetoid and through the basement, so to speak.  The other, the least known of all of us, will go in the front door as well, but as tourists.  That way we're all in place when I materialize the TARDIS within.  Beyond that, once they converge on me, keep eyes on me and follow as best you can.  My mother shouldn't be far and she knows all of us.  Keep an eye out for the Valeyard - he might know you, but he might not too.  Here's my thought - Tony and... hmmm... the list is short..."

"What about enlisting some volunteers from UNIT?" asked Martha.

Alex nodded.  "We're going to have to.  The Valeyard knows everyone here, and those he doesn't I don't feel comfortable sending out because... no offense... you have families and I don't want what is happening to me to happen to them.  Which means, Mickey, Martha... you aren't coming.  You're staying here.  Same with you Gwen.  And, no offense... Jackie, Pete... you've no field experience."

The ones listed nodded their understanding and Pete pointed out, "Can't leave Torchwood without personnel anyway."

"I'm noticing you didn't mention me," said Rose with a smile.

"You have experience with this, and you also have experience, according to the Torchwood records, in the field.  You will be useful - and you and your partner Ianto will be heading into the bottom with Jack and Jake."

"What about me?" asked Tony.

"Staying here - you're one of the last remaining field qualified operatives.  You'll be working with Mickey and Alonso," answered Alex.  "We can't afford to leave Torchwood too many people down - we're already stealing too many offworld as it is."

"Understood, sir," said Tony with a smile.

"We just need a team that the Valeyard won't know to head in the front from UNIT," said Alex.

"I'll get on that now," said Gwen as she headed off.  "If that's everything."

"For now, that's the best I can come up with.  Everything else will have to happen on the fly.  We just don't have the intel for better."

"Well, it's a loose plan," said Jack.  "But not any looser than working with the Doc."

* * * * * * * *

  
The Doctor sat heavily in the chair as she listened to her father.  "You can't be seriously thinking about doing this!" she shouted suddenly.  "This is madness!"

Hawke coolly regarded his daughter with an appraising look.  He believed that she could be a great Time Lord, if only she could curb the emotional responses.  Or if she simply thought about the bigger picture.  Unfortunately he could see how much his father had influenced her.  It was too bad, really.  So much potential wasted.  "It is a viable plan, and as Time Lords we have the ability and control to successfully do it."

"There is a reason Gallifrey, and the end of the Time War, is behind a Time Lock."  The Doctor sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.  "This is beyond revenge, or even necessity, Father, this is madness that could undo the universe and finish what Rassilon himself, and he was mad too, if you remember, tried to do."

Braxiatel chose that moment to walk in with the Valeyard.  "Has he told you his plan?" asked Braxiatel.

"Yes, and please tell me you cannot be thinking of going along with it!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"With what?" asked the Valeyard.  "He has not let us into his plans completely."

"He intends to break the Time Lock surrounding Gallifrey, go back in time and stop Eight from using the Moment, and then use these troops he has made Braxiatel make him to drop ship into the middle of it all," answered the Doctor.

There was another long, tense moment.  It was something she was seeing too much of.  Finally she broke the silence, looking at her great-uncle first.  "Uncle, you cannot be thinking of going along with this.  This could very well break the universe in half, and all of time itself."

Braxiatel nodded.  "You're right, of course.  But... we have to try.  It's home, Arkytior.  Home."

In shock she took two steps backwards, then looked at the Valeyard.  His expression was completely unreadable.  His eyes were also as guarded.  She couldn't tell if he wanted to try it as well or if he was with her.

"Arkytior... we need something that will break the Lock," said Hawke as he came up behind her.  "The Valeyard tells me of a device called the Dimension Cannon."

"No, absolutely not," sated the Doctor as she whirled to face her father.  "I will not help you with this!"

"You will or I will end Autumn," said Hawke coldly.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed the Valeyard, and even Braxiatel's composure cracked enough to be alarmed.

"You will find that I will.  Guard!  Bring Autumn."

Moments later, ones spent tense silence and standoff, the door opened and Autumn was escorted in.  "Well, I have to say this is a strange relief." Autumn stood in front of them, then trailed off as Hawke took out his sidearm and aimed it levelly at her.  "Hawke, what in the name of Rassilon are you doing?"

"I am dreadfully sorry, Grandmother, but if Arkytior refuses then she will be responsible for me ending you.  Guards, restrain Braxiatel and the Valeyard.  Better yet, remove them."

"This had damn well better be a bluff!" shouted the Valeyard as he was literally manhandled out of the room.

Braxiatel, with more dignity, but still quite pale and reluctant, left the room with one final glance at his mother.

The doors closed.  Autumn stared down her grandson.  "Make the Cannon or I will end her."

"You can't be serious!" shouted the Doctor.  "This is family!  Your family!  Your own Grandmother!"

"Whose taint influenced my father, and you.  It will be mercy - a clean, surgical cut to take the cancer that stained our name and honour for centuries.  It will be a sorrow, but in truth, she died years ago when she ran away.  Like my father did."  The Doctor swallowed, hearing the cold fury in her father's voice.  "When he stole you and she defended him."

"Is this what this about?" asked Autumn.  "I'm so sorry you felt that way."  She held up her arms and closed her eyes.  "If you feel that this will clean the slate, then do it, Hawke."

"She's offered herself to execution, something that should have been done years ago.  You can give her clemency, daughter.  Say you will help me and stand at my side where you belong!" shouted Hawke.  "Or she dies.  It rests with you."

"All right, fine... put the gun down..." the Doctor looked away and down.  "I'll do what you ask."

Hawke put the sidearm away.  Autumn opened her eyes, took in a breath and she appeared shaken.  "Guards!  Take Autumn back to her rooms."

The doors opened and she was escorted out.  Hawke walked over to the Doctor as the Valeyard came running in.  Braxiatel was nowhere to be seen, but she assumed he had likely gone after his mother.  "Valeyard... take the Doctor to the lab.  She has finally seen reason."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT ELEVEN**

* * * * * * * *

  
The Doctor continued to work on the Dimension Cannon.  She had little choice, but it also filled her time with something other than watching the cruel testing of the recruits.

She saw the shadow that didn't belong moments before the guards did and the figure was dragged into the light.  With a start she recognized a face that... as the Doctor... she had not seen in centuries.  The guards, once they realized that she was neither a Time Lord nor a tourist in the Collection, were about to kill her on the spot when the Doctor exclaimed, "No!  Wait!"

The guards stayed their hands, and then her father came in, saw the woman and shook his head.  "I might have known."

"Admiral Hawke... I am surprised to find you here," said Leela.

"I'm just as surprised to find you here," he said.  "Guards..."

"No!  Father, leave her be!" the Doctor shouted again just as the disruptor rifles were levelled on Leela.  "I... I could use her in the lab."

For a long moment her father was incredulous.  "Arkytior, this is Leela.  Not exactly known for her ability in a lab."

"Nevertheless, I would prefer her alive.  It would be far better to find out how she got in so that we could seal the security breach.  I could find that information for you," said the Doctor.

"I think the Valeyard would be far suited for such a task," said her father in plain disbelief.  "And I even doubt his ability to do so."

"Honey catches more flies than vinegar, father," she said again.

Leela caught that, and looked from one to the other again.  She could see that her life was on a delicate edge.  The woman was determined to save her, but Leela had no idea why.  She had never met Hawke's daughter.  It was rumoured that she had disappeared centuries before... Leela suddenly understood.  This was the daughter that the Doctor had stolen from Hawke and caused the younger Time Lord to hate his father so much.

"Fine, fine, she's your responsibility."  With that done, he turned on his heel and left.

Leela joined the Doctor on the lower level, aware of the guards within shouting range.  She wasn't sure if this new development was good or not.  "I recognize a Time War era uniform when I see one, Leela.  Tell me... did you escape the war or..."

"Escape it?" asked Leela in confusion.  "By far not, I was helping prepare the younger ones... why?"

The Doctor closed her eyes.  "Dammit... the testing has caused cracks.  Leela, I need you to listen to me very carefully.  The War is over - it was lost nearly a century ago in my personal time line, and... longer in the Doctor's.  I am the Doctor.  I don't have time to explain how or why, but you need to trust me.  Maybe... maybe if I cannot save everyone I can save you."

"I am confused.  Admiral Hawke was nowhere near Gallifrey... and he is the Doctor's son, and he plainly said you are his daughter."

"Leela... the Doctor is dead.  He died of age and his last incarnation gave out almost a hundred years ago in my personal time line.  I took his name, the TARDIS and his legacy.  I am the Doctor now.  When the war was on, he was in his Eighth incarnation... do you understand what I am telling you?"

Leela nodded, her eyes suddenly sad, but finally believing her.  "This Hawke is doing something to damage Time, yes?"

"Yes!  Precisely!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"Then we must stop him," said Leela, her hand slipping to her knives, eyes thinning.

The Doctor stopped her mid motion.  "There are complications - hostages - the Doctor's mother being one of them, and, ironically, the Valeyard and Braxiatel.  Hawke is mad.  He threatened Autumn herself with final death if I didn't help him."

Leela blinked.  "But he is the Doctor's son... Autumn's grandson... even the most callous of Time Lords would not, could not..."

"He is mad," stated the Doctor again.  "And, as much as it pains me to say it... I need your help to stop him."

Leela looked at her levelly.  "Tell me what you need me to do."

"Were you followed?" asked the Doctor.

"No..."

"Are you sure?" asked the Doctor, an idea forming in her mind.  "You said you were near the front lines.  Are you sure you weren't followed?"

Leela made the connection just as she finished, but shook her head.  "No, I am sorry.  I am good at what I do."

"Just as well, Daleks are a complication that I'm not sure if we could have handled."

* * * * * * * * *

  
The TARDIS materialized on the space station, and then once the small shuttle was bought and loaded onto the TARDIS, it dematerialized as Alex piloted it back into the Vortex into the year and place indicated by their intelligence on New Earth.  The two UNIT people hopped a shuttle to the Collection.  He materialized behind and below the Collection, out of range of the long range sensors.  There, the shuttle they had bought and retrofitted to include some stealth items was boarded by the other team of four.  Alex closed the doors to the TARDIS and stared into the empty expanse.

He was now alone in the TARDIS.  This last part was up to him.  He walked up to the console and ran a hand along it.  He pushed the time ahead just enough to give them enough time to get to where they needed to be, and programmed the location in.

With one last breath, he closed his eyes and said a prayer to a god he didn't believe in.

Alex hit the sequence.  It was a short hop in the vortex, and then the old time ship settled.  With another breath, he pulled the double doors open and stepped out.

The reaction wasn't what he was expecting, but at least it was a distraction...

* * * * * * * * * *

  
Jack piloted the shuttle up and into a cavern that his scanners said had breathable air and would lead up further.  He landed the shuttle on a ledge and the three of them climbed out.  Jake stared around a bit, and Rose put a steadying hand on his grey space suited shoulder.  "Wow.  Just wow.  Okay, when I went to work with Torchwood I honestly wasn't expecting to walk out onto another planet... okay, this isn't a planet, but still.  We're in space."

"You get used to it," said Rose.

"Or you're born to it.  I'm from the 51st century, which isn't too far off of this, really," said Jack, as he unloaded the weapons and other items.  "Okay, the scanner says there is some sort of port here."

They walked over, using their flashlights and headlamps on their suits to find the large loading doors.   "I think we found it.  Jack, is there a smaller door that this?" asked Jake.  "I think if we opened this it'd attract way too much attention."

"There is, right here." Jack pointed out the smaller man size airlock.

Jake knelt down and, using the device given to them by Alex, hacked into the controls and the outside door opened.  They entered and once inside it was a simple matter to let the pressure equalize and then let the inside door cycle open.  Jack tested the air, and then they stripped off the suits so that they were back down to the black Torchwood combat fatigues.

They silently walked through the corridors, and it was at this point that Jake noticed something.  "Does this not remind you a bit of a training complex?"

Jack blinked, looked around and had to agree.  "Yeah, you're right.  It does."

Jake turned around and stared as they came around the corner and encountered the group of young humans.  The two groups were a bit surprised to see each other, but the young recruits raised their weapons.  "Who are you?!" demanded the lead one.

"Whoa!" Jack put his hands up.  "Well, this is a surprise."

"State your identities!"

"You mean this isn't the way to the bathroom?" asked Jack.

The lead one didn't appear to know what to say about that.  Rose looked over at the wall, and noticed a waffling.  "Jack, look..."

They all did and at that moment, two Daleks rolled out and, seeing the young recruits opened fire, who fired on the Daleks with no warning as well.  Jack, Rose and Jake backed away, firing back at the Daleks before they ducked for cover in the end.  "They didn't even give them warning," said Rose, thin-lipped.

"Yeah, noticed that," stated Jack.

Abruptly, the sounds of Dalek disruptor fire stopped.  They peered around the corner.  "Where the hell, holy shit."  Jack stepped out and looked at the two dead Daleks.  "They're all dead."

The other two came out.  "Hey... those weapons went through the armour like butter, Jack..." said Rose.

"Yup, gives me an idea if those uniforms are what are supposed to be here... let's do some real sneaking in, why don't we?" said Jake as he searched the pack, and took out a spare uniform.  "Check the others.  And take their weapons.  We'll lay them out and at least leave them with some respect."

Which they did, laying the fallen young soldiers in a row on their backs and with their hands over their chests.  Other than the burn marks they appeared to be sleeping.  Jack took a moment, as did Jake and Rose.  "All right, let's go."

As they went through the levels, they encountered other units, but they weren't stopped.  One group, the leader asked, "Heading back up?"

"Yeah... finished our tour down here," answered Jack.

"Lucky bastards... looks like you need some new recruits in your unit as well."

"Yeah, the others were taken out by Daleks."

"What?" asked another one.  "Seriously?"

"This isn't unusual?" asked Rose.

"It is, that's the problem.  Most of what we encounter is just AI, but never any actual danger."

"That's why we're heading back up - going to report it."

"And you couldn't radio it in?" asked the leader.

"Radios were damaged in the battle." Jack explained.

"Oh, okay," the leader said.  "Well, good luck..."

They continued on and Rose said, "Definitely a training centre of some sort."

The corridor opened up into a white room where there were other units training with others walking in between the rows.  Jack realized that they stood out like sore thumbs.  Every trainee was maybe, on the outside, in their very early twenties.  The first officer noticed them and came to the same conclusion.

Jack swung his weapon up just as the others did, and the officer yelled something that he didn't understand.  It could have been, "Intruders!" or maybe it meant something completely different.  Jack looked at Rose and Jake, and they realized that Alex had been correct in thinking that the other Time Lords were hiding here.

* * * * * * *

  
Alex stepped out into the study, and he saw six people in the room.  One he was relieved to see, even if he wondered at her appearance in a basic skirt suit with a lab coat covering it.  The Doctor.  His mother was safe.  He saw her look down and close her eyes for a moment before she looked up and gave him a sad smile.

One wore a uniform, and he went from surprised to extremely cross looking within seconds.  Two he recognized from pictures.  The Valeyard had a small smile on his face and Braxiatel was, as usual, schooling his expression into something completely neutral.

The second woman, not in a uniform but in robes, was clearly Autumn.  He hoped.  A sixth was in a uniform similar to Hawke's, but she had a whole lot of knives on her.  "Hello, Mother, you won't believe how long it took me to find you."

* * * * * * * *

 **ACT TWELVE**

* * * * * * * *

  
The two UNIT people walked through the museum, enjoying to them what almost seemed to be a paid vacation off the planet.  It was an incredible museum, and they had to marvel how similar life off world was to life on Earth.  Sure, the technology was steps and levels away from theirs currently, but life wasn't.

Even still, they knew that as peaceful as it looked, they had to be ready for anything to happen.

It just so happened that as they walked into the front entrance way again, they heard the distinctive sound of the TARDIS landing, and then... all hell broke loose.

Reality waffled and then there was a small, and slightly scorched, unit of Daleks in the front entry way.  The two moved to the side and pulled out their weapons, hoping that they would be useful.

"EXTERMINATE!" came from the lead one as soon as they guessed the Daleks had gotten over the confusion.  "FIND THE TIME LORDS.  DESPITE THEIR TRICKERY WE WILL HAVE OUR VICTORY."

At that point the people realized that these Daleks were real and fear took over.  Panic and screaming swept through the museum.

* * * * * * * * *

  
The tense stand off in the white training room broke when another unit of Daleks rolled in.  The officers didn't hesitate, but, again in that language, ordered the recruits to open fire.  Jack, Rose and Jake decided, in a split second, that the Time Lords made for a better ally than the Daleks and fell into the same line as the others, opening fire on the Daleks.

Some of the soldiers fell, never to rise again, while one of the Daleks clipped an officers in the shoulder.  Moments later, that officer was bathed in a golden green glow as they burst into the familiar blaze of regeneration, wiping out any doubt in Jack and Rose's minds as to who the humanoid aliens were.

The battle ended, and the officers formed a ring around the freshly regenerated Time Lord, who sat, leaning against the wall, breathing hard as if he had just run a marathon.  Jack asked, "Is he all right?"

Someone, from behind him, answered, "He will be, but he will need rest."

They turned and he noticed the soldiers, and the officers stood a little straighter in the presence of the robed Time Lady.  She was an impressive woman, not tall but not short either.  She was also very beautiful, if cold.  "I do not think you belong with our soldiers.  Am I correct in assuming that you are intruders... although of a different sort than the Daleks?"

"Yes, ma'am," answered Jack.  "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service.  And this is Rose Tyler and Jake Simmons."

"Please, I am at your service.  The reports tell me you are the ones who warned the patrols below of the Daleks and were bringing word to us.  Rather strange operation for intruders, to save us, one would think.  My name is Innoceturialfuryare, Keeper of House Furyare."

Rose looked at Jack, but he had also caught the name as well.  "Tell me, is Furyare not the House the Doctor from?" asked Jack, making the connection.  "Have you seen her?"

Innocet looked slightly surprised.  "I have, although from a distance.  Are you friends of the Doctor?"

"Yes," answered Rose.

"Then you are my friends as well," she decided.  "The Kithriarch is keeping her separated from the others.  I do not know why."

"Can you take us to her?" Again, Rose seemed to be taking charge.  Jack didn't mind, if this got results.

"I can try," answered Innocet, as she turned and beckoned them to follow her.  "Captain Kurial, take your lieutenant to the medical centre to recover from his Regeneration.  I will take this to the Ciryatur."

"Yes, my Lady," answered the officer as he turned to the others and barked orders in Gallifreyan to the others.

They followed Innocet into corridors that looked more like hallways than the caverns they had been crawling through.  She looked at the three humans.  "Come with me."

* * * * * * * * *

  
The command centre, where Hawke was, was the only calm centre in the storm as the cracks spread out from the Dimension Cannon.  He appeared calm, but he was slightly worried underneath it all.  But it was working.  It had to be.  The Time Lock was breaking.  Soon he could return home, save them all and revel in his triumph and bring honour back to his House.

The Doctor watched as reality continued to crack.  "Father, please!"

"It's working!  How long until we can drop into the war?" he demanded.

She shook her head.  "I don't know, but if I keep doing this reality will break!  Father, please, the war is over.  Let it go!"

" _NO!_ " he shouted back at her.  "It can _never_ be over until the war ends without the need of the Time Lock!"

Innocet ran in, and the Doctor saw Jack, Rose and Jake.  The Valeyard aimed at them, and then he fired.  The shot went wide and Jack looked at him horror, and then heard the winding down of a Dalek as it died.  The four of them moved to the side.

Other Daleks appeared in the room, and seeing the Time Lords, the battle became a pitched battle as the Daleks fired on the Time Lords and the Time Lords did the only thing they could do - they fired back.  Jack crawled to the side, and touched the Doctor's shoulder.  She crawled up to the next level.  At that moment, the crack opened in the floor underneath the Dimension Cannon.

It was as if they could see through a window down into another world.

In truth, that was what it was.

The Doctor took an involuntary breath in.  "Rassilon's breath... Gallifrey..." she breathed.

Jack could see the cracked dome of the Citadel of the Time Lords, and the battle beneath as Dalek ships and war-TARDISes fought and fell together.  That scene waffled a bit to a far more peaceful one, and one not war-torn where the great dome was intact.  Within, he could see the activity that made up a city, complete with mono-rails moving the people from various parts of the city to other parts.  He could see what appeared to be a sea of silver in the distance, but he knew that it was actually the silver trees.  It was beautiful.

The Doctor swallowed beside him, and he grasped her hand.

The Valeyard also saw this, and he limped forward, dying from being shot by a Dalek.  The Doctor looked up and suddenly saw his intent.  He looked to Hawke, then back to her, and then to Rose.

With a leap, he barrelled into the other Time Lord, his momentum pushing them out and into the crack.

For a long time, they hung there, as if suspended over the crack.  The Valeyard, now within the event horizon, was able to reach the Cannon.  He aimed, and fired his gun at the machine.

As if in slow motion the two Time Lords fell through the crack.  The rift rippled, but it didn't close.  The machine was damaged, but not totally nonoperational.  The crack was still there, and they held on for dear life as the damage tried to pull them into the war, or back into the past.  It was unclear.

Innocet screamed as she lost her grip and fell into the crack.  Some of the troops were also pulled into the crack.

The Doctor pressed her lips into a thin line.  There was only one way that crack would close.  Jack saw the intent in her eyes, and cried, "No!" as she let go and was also sucked into the crack, but she twisted midway, taking out her sonic and causing an overload in the power supply.

She was halfway in the crack when the machine, and the rift, exploded.

Everything faded into a white blur, not even black.

The Doctor lay there, and looked around.  The room was endless and white.  She had regenerated before and did not remember ever seeing this.  Am I dead? she wondered.  Her body felt broken, battered... and she knew she was very close to regeneration but perhaps being so close to a rift in space and time would prevent it.

Perhaps... she had died.

A figure walked out of the white light of the room and became clearer.  She blinked as he helped her to her feet.

It was her grandfather, of that she was certain.  But it was the incarnation that had first left Gallifrey, his very first.  He smiled, as he changed to another... and then a third, a fourth... and all the way through to the thirteenth, before settling on the one she knew... the first.  "Am I dead?" she asked.  "Is that why I can see you?"

"No, you are not... but you are very close to it."

"Where is this?"

"As close to the Matrix as we will get, it is... a place between life and death.  Someplace that a Time Lord never sees until that final death."  They then stood in a field of red grass and silver trees, but instead of the usual sky, it was the same as Earth... but instead of the moon the Earth hung in the sky.

Everything that had been dear to the Doctor, including the familiar blue box of the TARDIS. "But, it is time for me to go... thank you... granddaughter..."

He faded and the world whited out again.

* * * * * * * *

  
"Doctor!" She blinked, and opened her eyes, wincing at the too bright lights, feeling the floor beneath her as she stared up at Jack, Rose and Braxiatel.  "Oh thank God... you were so still I'd thought you were dead... and then Braxiatel told us you weren't showing signs of regenerating.

She wished she hadn't opened her eyes.  She felt as if she had been dragged through a gravel pit, and then beaten with bats.  Steel bats.  By big men.  She looked around to the others as they also picked themselves off the ground.

Everyone, but for a few, were alive.

And against the odds so was she.

* * * * * * * * *

  
When the Doctor woke again, she was in the TARDIS infirmary, and she looked around again.  On one side was Rose Tyler, her arm in a sling.  On the other was Braxiatel, who sported a bandage on his head, but other than that he was awake and even reading a book.  When he noticed her confused, but awake look, he hit a button above him.  "Alex, your mother is awake."

"What happened?" asked the Doctor.

"You don't remember?" asked Rose.

"Bits and pieces of the end.  I... think I saw my grandfather..."

Braxiatel sighed.  "Near death can do that," he said.  "You saved us all.  Hardly surprising, given that you carry his legacy.  He always was somehow able to save people with shoe string and gum.  You've inherited that."

"The collection is closed for repairs - but the Daleks are all dead.  So are many of the tourists, the soldiers, and some of the other Time Lords.  But you are no longer the last," said Rose.  "You managed to overload the Dimension Cannon and close the crack, sealing the Time War back behind the Time Lock.  The Valeyard... he's gone.  So is your father.  He saved us all in the end, damaged the cannon just enough for you to be able to overload it like he knew you would."

Alex picked that moment to walk in.  "Mother!" he ran forward and hugged her.

Autumn walked in, slower, as if she wasn't sure how she would be received.  The Doctor opened her arms as she also walked over and hugged her.  Autumn then stood back, and back a respectable distance.  "I am now the new Kithriarch of House Furyare," she said.  "As I am the eldest survivor of our family.  I have also been voted in as the new interim Lady President of the surviving Time Lords, what there is of us.  With Braxiatel's permission, we will start on his planetoid."

"It's not like I'll have use for it," he stated.

Alex's face darkened.  "After all you've done, and your part in this, you're lucky I didn't regenerate you.  Thank your mother for my mercy."

"What are you doing to him?" asked Rose.

"We are turning him into the Shadow Proclamation for trial and then likely incarceration at Stormcage," answered Autumn.  "We are refugees, but now there is a sanctuary for Time Lords that survived Gallifrey.  That will help his case - he has chosen to donate his planetoid for that purpose."

Braxiatel shrugged, but the Doctor could see he wasn't too happy about it.

"So... no longer the Last of the Time Lords," came Rose's sad voice.  "I think he'd have been happy to see the day, even if he wouldn't have been happy on how it came about."

"I quite agree," said Autumn.

* * * * * * * *

  
The TARDIS materialized in the Hub and the Doctor stepped out.  Within seconds of doing so, Martha ran over to her and hugged her.  The Doctor accepted the hug, but Martha then moved back as the others came out.  She wasn't surprised, and she was also relieved, to note that everyone sent out, including those from UNIT, came back.  But at the appearance of others, she was surprised.

These others also looked around the Hub, blinking in surprise at where they were.  One was a woman, dressed in a skirt suit with a red shawl over it.  Two others were in red robes, but one was in a blue one.  Martha didn't know what to make of them, but it was taken care of when there was a stunned sounding shout, "Autumn!"

The woman in the skirt suit smiled up at Ianto.  "Ianto Jones.  It has been too long since I saw you last."

Alex then walked past his mother, and she asked, "Where are you going?"

"New start!  Hey Rose... wait up for a sec..."

The Doctor blinked as Jack stood beside her.  "They became really good friends while you were missing, closer when you were comatose.  The TARDIS is going to be rather empty after this."

"Depends... you wanna stick around?" she asked him, leaning on the doors.

Jack grinned.  "What about Torchwood?"

She looked around at the renewed and full Torchwood Hub.  "I think they've got it handled."

Martha looked back at the last second, just in time to watch the TARDIS vanish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * * * * * * * * * *
> 
> THE END
> 
> THE DOCTOR WILL RETURN IN "MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM"  
> * * * * * * * * * *
> 
> And with that the main story arc and season of The Legacy comes to an end. There is still a bonus "Special" and then Legacy-verse is taking a hiatus.  
> The special, May Day, that I teased is now called Midsummer's Night Dream, but is the same premise.


	14. SPECIAL: A Midsummer's Night Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midsummer Special - The Doctor and Jack team with Torchwood and go to Canada to break up an alien slaving ring, but soon find themselves mired in the murky world of covert ops and buried secrets where even friends aren't what they appear.

_Ten years ago, Torchwood ceased to be... as we knew it._

 

_In 2005 Canary Wharf fell to the still very classified incident involving the Daleks and Cybermen, a incident that we were only saved through the heroics of a few that were not even part of Torchwood itself but were there to clean up the mess made by the Director of the time, Yvonne Hartmann._

 

_In the meantime, Torchwood was left to operate, in a reduced and stop-gap manner, through the near independent operation of its individual cells which are still scattered around the remaining British Empire, some still in the United Kingdom, others in other parts of the world. For awhile, this was all right. We worked for years like this._

 

_Until 2009 when the 456 incident proved to us that we needed a more permanent, and more unified, structure. We needed a new Torchwood One._

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

_Undisclosed location_

_February 2nd, 2010_

 

The boardroom was one of those old style boardrooms, only much larger. The ones made as part of an even older library and study, complete with a huge hand carved fireplace and mantle. A portrait of the current Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, and of what remained of a large empire. Much of it still remained, even if most of those were now mostly self-governed, they were still beholden to their Queen. 

 

The Commonwealth was still very much alive. 

 

At the head of the table, underneath her own portrait, sat the Queen herself. Such was the nature of the meeting, and such was the secrecy, that it was necessary. The Prime Minister was there as well, not only of Britain but also of Canada as well as over fifty other nations. Every single last Prime Minister or other nominal head of state was in the room as well as a Director of Torchwood for each member country. 

 

The only Director missing was from Canada, and the Queen looked at Canada's Prime Minister once again. "I swear he will be here, Mum." 

 

"Is he ordinarily late?" asked the Queen. 

 

"No, your Majesty," answered the Canadian Prime Minister. "I've only known him to be late once and it was that unfortunate affair a few years ago with the planets in the sky." 

 

"Let us hope that the reason this time is not so dire," pointed out the Queen, choosing to be amused by the man's lateness, and there was corresponding chuckles from around the room. 

 

Just then the doors opened and a man bowed as he was announced as Director Claude Vaillieux of Torchwood Four in Toronto before taking his place behind the Canadian Prime Minister. "Forgive me your Majesty, I was detained at Heathrow." 

 

"I was just being told you are very rarely late," said the Queen. "I do hope the circumstances are not the same as the last time?" 

 

"By far not, Majesty, simple inconvenience. All taken care of," he answered with a smile. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

_It was at this meeting that Director Vaillieux became the new Director of Torchwood, and Toronto was re-designated as TW-1, our new headquarters. He wasted no time in advising the Queen that the resolution which had brought our organization into being was outdated... outmoded... and required updating. He asked for one allowance only._

 

_To cease hostilities towards the man known only as the Doctor of the TARDIS, whom they now knew in this modern age as an alien being, a remarkable man with the capability to not only traverse space but also time itself. The Doctor, in these times, had proven himself over and over to not be our enemy but our greatest ally. There were more than a few documented instances where the Doctor had saved the Commonwealth, and Earth itself, at great risk to his own life and safety, but yet this outdated resolution would reward that selflessness with censure... or worse._

 

_During Canary Wharf, it almost had. Director Vaillieux implored the Queen to at least consider a resolution that would change this._

 

_She agreed - and Torchwood was reborn into something new._

 

\- From the personal, if still classified, diary of Gwen Cooper 

Torchwood Three, Cardiff, Wales 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

The city was easily categorized as the metropolis kind. It held a population well into the millions and its sprawl had swallowed into the urban centre the surrounding smaller cities and threatened others. It held the north shore of Lake Ontario uncontested. 

 

It was not this that made it instantly recognizable by anyone anywhere around the world, no, it was the lonely spire which shot up above the skyscrapers surrounding it, and it still held the record for the tallest free standing structure in the entire city, and likely still the world. 

 

In a city of monuments, the CN tower of Toronto was recognizable like the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, but dwarfed both. 

 

Its growth had, as it continued to grow, slowly gobbled up its surrounding sisters until there was little to no space between it and the others. Eventually, it swallowed them up in name as well and became the Greater Toronto Area, or GTA, with the heart still known as Toronto. 

 

Much of the old part of Toronto was now gone. Buried beneath the new developments of condos and office towers. But there was still a few places where the history of the city still lived. A haunted house, turned into a museum, that had existed in the same place since perhaps the city had been founded on a little known one way street just behind the Eaton centre was one such place. 

 

Here and there there were other places still clinging to its history. 

 

Union Station was another place, but one that had seen numerous updates behind the scenes while the actual place still held its original purpose... and design. 

 

A woman wove her way through the teeming crowd, talking on a cell phone. While Toronto was a very metropolitan place full of numerous different cultures and people from different places, her accent was still very much out of place amidst the typical accent of Central Eastern Ontario, which, to Canadians, wasn't much of an accent at all. 

 

Which was why the ginger haired woman stuck out beyond that of being a redhead, which was rare enough. The tone with which she spoke was of a professional speaking to another professional. No words wasted beyond the bare necessities of courtesy, just enough to get the point across. The middle aged woman continued to weave her way through the crowd as if used to larger, more intense crowding. Union Station was the Canadian equivalent of King's Cross, but it was still not quite as busy. Not by much, but still, Donna Noble was used to it. 

 

As Donna waited for the subway, she snapped her cell phone closed and slid it into an interior pocket in her suit blazer and stepped onto the car, quickly finding a seat before someone else did. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT ONE**

* * * * * * * * *

 

The view from the office tower was spectacular and offered, if one was to walk from side to side of the building or view from the roof, a panoramic view of Toronto and Lake Ontario. It was still dwarfed by the CN Tower, which could be seen in the distance from the windows, standing proudly in the southwest from the office tower. 

 

Not that it could be seen on the interior of the building. 

 

Two guards stood outside of a door in the foyer by the elevator. They looked over when the elevator made a cheerful ding before the doors opened. Two people were escorted by another guard, who held the door as it opened and waited until they got off the elevator before backing back into it and letting the doors slide closed. For a moment, they stood outside as their identification was looked over again, then scanned, as were their eyes and hand prints. 

 

They were allowed past the first door and showed into a reception area, where the scans were double-checked and pass codes recited. The two UNIT people looked from the identification of the woman, to the woman, and back again. 

 

Not because it wasn't checking out, but because it  _was_ . Nor was it psychic paper, as the woman was rumoured to often employ if she needed identification for the moment. That meant the identification they were looking at was genuine, and so was the person holding it.

 

The Doctor had that effect with the newer ones in UNIT and some of the old guard who had never met her. "Is there a problem?" asked Jack. 

 

"No, sir, madam... an honour madam," said the younger one as he snapped off a salute, which the Doctor returned, if not as crisply. 

 

They then looked over Jack's and the Torchwood half was equally as surprised, but held their surprise in far more. In truth, the one was from the old way of doing things and still felt the itchy sensation that whispered to reach for his gun and place the alien woman under arrest. However, his training as well as the overriding evidence plainly showing she was no menace to him or any of them, made him merely look over their identification with crisp, distant, professionalism. 

 

However. 

 

He was still a living man, and she wasn't hard on the eyes. Far from it - and he could freely admit that to himself that being kidnapped by that particular alien wouldn't have been unwelcome if he was ever given the chance. The less professional part of him was rather envious of the infamous former Director of Torchwood Three. 

 

But he was far too professional to do more than throw perhaps more than a few appreciative glances her way. 

 

The older, more professional, of the two UNIT people opened the inner doors and allowed Jack Harkness and the Doctor into the inner room. 

 

The five men looked at each other. If there were any thoughts on the female alien that had just walked past them, they were far too professional to say so or think anything further on it beyond what they already had. It would have been an insult to do more, or less, than the eyebrow lift they had already done. One from Torchwood looked over at UNIT and asked, "That was an alien? Is she hiding her true appearance?" 

 

One of the ones from UNIT who had been around a very long time, in fact all the way back in the day when the Doctor had been a white haired curly, tall, man who liked velvet smoking jackets. He knew the Doctor looked human, as did the others of his race. Or in this case her race. He shook his head. "No, her race looks as we do - they always do - although she would tell you that we look Time Lord, not the other way around." 

 

* * * * * * * 

 

Jack and the Doctor stepped into the inner room. There was yet another identification check, only this time it wasn't to make sure that they were supposed to be there - that had already been thoroughly checked by not one, but at least a half dozen checkpoints once they even gained access to the building itself. This time it was to place them correctly at the large circular meeting table. The Torchwood aide led them to their places and they sat down, and the screen finally was actually fully visible to human eyes. The Doctor had already been able to read most of what was on the privacy and security-measures laden screen upon just entering the room. 

 

The room was dark except for low lights around the table and the screen itself, and the screens on the the table itself, set into the dark, expensive wood. The Doctor and Jack took a moment to familiarize themselves with the matter as it was being presented and then settled back to listen. 

 

So far, no one was actually talking about the matter at hand. The meeting had not officially even started yet and so all that was available was the unclassified bits. Even still, the Doctor could almost sense where this was all going. There would only be one reason for not only her to be summoned by the new Director of Torchwood Three - Peter Tyler - as well as the extremely rare occurrence of UNIT and Torchwood joining forces. She had almost ignored it, telling Jack, "If they can work together, they will likely not need us... they will have to learn to work together eventually for things to progress naturally to humanity's next historical stage. I can't always be there to hold their hands."

 

To quote an old cliche... Hell had frozen over. 

 

The next call was from the Queen ordering her guardian of the realm to Toronto, Canada and on what date. 

 

The Doctor found that she could not refuse the Queen. 

 

This couldn't be a good thing. Hell didn't freeze over on good things. She wasn't summoned to a crisis meeting by the Queen over good things. 

 

She was broken out of her thoughts when another inner door opened, off to the side, and a man walked out with his own aide and a few of the higher ranking members of UNIT. The Doctor glanced at him and then out-rightly stared. He also came to a stop, glanced at her and out of the very crowd and dark of the room stared at her as if she, too, was lit by a spotlight. 

 

He excused himself and walked straight over to them. Jack sat up perceptibly at his approach. "You must be the Doctor," he said without preamble. "I've heard so much about you and must say it is an incredible honour to meet you at last." 

 

He held out his hand. "My name is Claude Vaillieux and I am the Director of Torchwood." 

 

The Doctor stood and shook his hand over the table, it wasn't wide enough to make the handshake awkward. "I am honoured to meet you as well," she answered and then, upon grasping his hand she felt a shock of recognition run through her. It was as if she was struck by lightning, only without the damage or the other side issues. 

 

He felt the same, she could tell and for a long moment they stared at each other, still holding the others hand. Claude grinned widely and then shook his head. The head shake was barely perceptible but the Doctor and Jack saw it clearly given how close they were. He then moved her hand to his lips and gave her an older fashioned, gentlemanly, greeting by brushing his lips over her knuckles before releasing her hand. "I see we will have much to talk about, you and I," he said in a low voice, before he turned and walked away to start the meeting. 

 

The Doctor stood there a moment longer, stunned to the point of silence. Jack pulled her back down gently, holding the hand and rubbing the knuckles that had been kissed. He knew something had happened but he wasn't sure of what. "Who is he?" asked Jack in a low voice. 

 

She shook her head. "Later. I'll... I'll tell you later." She took a breath to steady herself. 

 

* * * * * * * 

 

Donna took a sip of her tea, blowing on it to cool it off as she used her computer to email her mother and grandfather. She was on break and using it well to catch up with life in Chiswick. It seemed so far away now but more natural than actually being there. 

 

It seemed too strange to be natural, but there it was. 

 

Then again, maybe it was... she took a breath and refused to dwell on it. Not at work. 

 

_Granddad,_

 

_I know you've probably realized it by now but I'm not in Chiswick anymore. I've gone travelling. I couldn't stay there anymore. It just didn't feel right._

 

_I know Mum is probably going postal right now, but tell her I'm all right. I'm in Canada, if you believe that. Toronto, Ontario to be exact. Life here isn't that much different. Oh sure, the place looks different but things aren't. It's a city. They need temps like any other place._

 

_But it's different enough to not remind me of Shaun. I know you and Mum will think that after the accident I'm running away. You may be right but right now I can't bear to walk and see the same streets and know that the drunk that killed him, while not there now, will again be on those streets. Not yet anyway. Maybe some day, but not yet. It's too raw right now. I think you and Mum can understand that even if my method of dealing with it isn't the same._

 

_I just felt caged all of a sudden._

 

_And yes, like I said, I'm temping again but the company I signed up with is bloody global and allows me to travel and not be nailed down in one place. And Canada is nice this time of year. I may go up north to see what's up there, may even temp up there too. Evidently there is a few smaller cities that still use temps. Some of these places only use temps because the site is only there long enough for a temp. Imagine that! Entire towns packed up and gone because the time of year is up or the need isn't there anymore. A town of temps! Sounds like my kind of place. All paid travel and never seeing the same place twice._

 

_Granted, they also tell me these places are like military camps only worse. Guess I could do it once to say I have and then go back to civilization._

 

_Anyway I just wanted to tell you not to worry and, while I like what I'm doing and where I'm going, that I miss you and Mum._

 

_Donna_

 

She looked at the time and hit send. She had enough time left of her break to make another cup of tea and get some biscuits... or cookies... since that's what they were called in Canada. Biscuits, she had been rather surprised to find out (the hard way) were a type of scone that one ate with soup. Or, if not that fancy, were simply a type of cracker. The sweets were referred to as cookies... and Canadians loved their cookies. Donna had gone through so many different types of cookies that her head was practically spinning. 

 

But, like England, Canadians - those of an English background, no matter how far back the generations went since they had left England - still mostly had tea in the afternoon instead of coffee and ate cookies with the tea on an afternoon break. It wasn't the formal affair or even fancy. It just was the way it was. 

 

It wasn't even called a tea break, it was simply a mid-afternoon break, if one had one. Donna had been surprised to note that life here, like London, was just as varied. Toronto was just as metropolitan as London. 

 

The even funnier part was discovering there was a London in Canada, and it was a very large city to itself. It wasn't too far from Toronto by Canadian standards, but almost a world away by UK standards. In fact, in England, it would have been the other side of the country. Literally. Here it was an afternoon drive as the literal across the country would take days to cross, perhaps longer. The province she now resided in rivalled France in sheer size, if not population. 

 

Even more amusing was the presence of a township, not far from Toronto and London and to their mutual North, was another Chiswick. It was even still on the GO bus route. The first time her agency had sent her to Chiswick, Ontario Donna had nearly laughed her arse off. 

 

This had then settled into a rather large and sobering thought. Most of those back home had assumed that Canada had become largely like the US. 

 

This wasn't true. 

 

At all. 

 

Oh sure, there were some mixing and melding but by and large most Canadian got off on how not the same the two countries were. They prided themselves on the differences and the fact that they still could, for the most part, get along and partner themselves with the other country despite the differences. 

 

Donna had spent most of her time expecting things to be different than England and was mostly shocked by how things were the same. There were some differences, such as the Canadian and American accents, as well as more American influences here than in the UK, but it was far closer to say that Canada - or Ontario at least - was far more English than it was anything else. Naming conventions, culture, governmental practices... all the same. Food and television programming, while it had a distinct Native Canadian flavour sometimes, still the same. 

 

They were a strange duality - their military sang  _Oh Canada_ followed very quickly by  _God Save the Queen_ .

 

Donna had fallen into that familiarity like a security blanket and revelled in the differences. 

 

Such as the Native Canadian influence that pervaded everything. Maple syrup on pancakes, or even the bacon, in the morning instead of marmalade or mint jelly. Blueberry jams and jellies in local food stores instead of just the import section. And the maple products! Almost everything was flavoured with it in a local market. But, she could understand why. At first she had been surprised with it, but then she had been thoroughly addicted to the subtle and distinct flavour of maple sugar. 

 

Even home decorating had a native influence, she noticed, as she went more north and into the less populated regions. It was simply easier to get their hands on. At first, Donna had collected anything that even hinted at authentic native art, but then she had been inundated with it all and grown out of it. She fell back into the familiar English part of Canadian culture and let in a few of the other things that flavoured it. 

 

She had travelled to British Columbia, and worked in Newfoundland and Labrador (the latter at one of the temporary mine camps as she had described to her grandfather), seen the Edmonton Mall and even taken some vacation time to see the Calgary Stampede, which, unlike the English influenced Ontario, was like the Old West with new technology. It was like a North Texas, so "Western" it had become and according to those in that area... had always been. But yet still very proudly Canadian and for the love of God, Gods or even Goddess and the Queen,  _not_ American, even if their southern neighbours were a nice sort.

 

Her accent had fallen away and she sounded almost as Canadian as the rest of her friends in Canada. 

 

Her temp job, while it was still listed as temporary, had become permanent and she was working towards a dual citizenship. 

 

Maybe it was the maple addiction but she couldn't see herself leaving now that she was here. She had spoken to a few expats and found that they had been swallowed whole by Canada in the same way. And, because Canada was still part of the Commonwealth, it wasn't as if they were truly expats anyway.

 

Donna walked back to her desk with her tea in hand. 

 

* * * * * * * 

 

Jack felt the time pass and, even though he was used to long meetings from his time as the Director of Torchwood Three, this was beginning to wear on even his patience and reserves. The Doctor seemed just as weary. 

 

In truth, she was having little, and very unobtrusive, flashbacks of meetings of the Time Lord High Council on Gallifrey. Those times, as a very young and pre-graduation from the Academy Time Lord, she had followed her grandfather to those meetings and served as an assistant to him. Many others had also brought 'apprentice Time Lords' to the meetings as the time served early would serve them in the long run. 

 

Now she sat with an aide of her own, although he was by far not just an aide nor even an apprentice anything. Her grandfather was dead, as were most of the Time Lords, and she was the higher ranking member of her family while her great-grandmother served as the de-facto Lady President of the Remnant of Time Lords, which meant she could not also serve as the House Kithriarch, or, as the term loosely translated as, head of the House. That had fallen to the Doctor, who now found her time being filled with either her 'consulting' work on Earth or now the duties as the Kithriarch of her House. 

 

Running away from Gallifrey had only served to throw that much more responsibility on her head. 

 

She wondered what her grandfather would have to say about that, and felt a pang of sorrow cut through her being. The Doctor would have loved to ask but unfortunately she would never be able to. 

 

"That doesn't solve the problem of telling us where or who, or even what is actually going on," pointed out one member of UNIT. "The fact that it's been going on for so long - and right under our noses - but the hints have been noticed by not only UNIT and Torchwood but also other private and independent groups and individuals tells us that this isn't the work of a half-assed group, but rather a very organized and well connected one." 

 

"And your sources led you to believe that it was in Toronto?" asked Claude. 

 

"Yes," confirmed Brigadier Magambo, the other person from UNIT. "All signs say that this is the hub, if you excuse the term, Jack..." 

 

"No offense taken," said Jack. 

 

"... that Toronto is being used as the hub. We have a fair idea of which companies, set up as dummy corporations with at least some legitimate operations as to lead us off the trail," finished Magambo. 

 

"What are they doing, precisely?" asked the Doctor. "You dance around the subject, and only speak of the tactics." 

 

The people from UNIT, and some of Torchwood, looked down at their seating plan and then looked up and stared at her from where she had stood up from the table. Even Magambo's eyes had widened in shock. 

 

Jack grinned. The Doctor was a practised hand at using her reputation as a weapon. Of the potential of what she could do rather than what she did. Claude nodded and flipped to another file. "We suspect that this organized ring is using the front of legitimate companies for the export of human slaves, as well as the import of alien ones and worse from off-planet."

 

"Weapons, drugs, things of that nature," filled in another from Torchwood. "Things that are also helpful in nature, but should be brought through a more legitimate and controlled line." 

 

The Doctor nodded her agreement. "No argument from me. Something is tampering with the Web of Time, unknowingly, mind you. If it was deliberate it would be worse." 

 

She sat back down, which was a silent way of saying she she was done with her questions. The meeting moved along. "Back to the tactics, as the Doctor pointed out," Magambo started. "I would like to suggest a raid." 

 

Claude thinned his eyes. "What sort of raid?" 

 

"The kind that UNIT is well known for," answered the Doctor again, quietly. "Publicly." 

 

The room erupted in an uproar, some in agreement and thinking it was the best course of action to scare off the criminal element from off world, and from Earth, others thinking a more subtle hand was needed, but still wanting to raid. The Doctor stood again, and those closest to her moved away from the stormy look in her eyes. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled, cutting through the din. Almost instantaneously the room quieted. "Raiding will get you no-where." The Doctor's voice didn't seem loud but its clarity reached every corner of the room. "Subtle or otherwise, your quarry will fade into shadows so deep that no one will be able to get to them. What you need is an idea of where those corners are so that when they do decide to hide we can illuminate them and know where they are before they realize that we know." 

 

"What do you suggest?" asked Claude. 

 

"Something subtle, more subtle than undercover raid. But... undercover is the right idea. These are, fronts or not, perhaps legitimate companies. Send in 'temps' to fill in for people who have called in sick. Instead of looking for a weak spot and trying to force your way in, be invited in the front door," she answered. 

 

Magambo leaned back in her chair. Claude nodded as he looked over. "I agree with her strategy. When, and if, we have to raid, we'll be in a far better position to than going in randomly," he pointed out. 

 

"Agreed." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT TWO**

* * * * * * * *

 

The company was not so large that it was rich, but it wasn't so small that it was broke either. They weren't posh either. That much was certain. The shipping business sometimes didn't pay well and the costs were high. The Doctor could understand why some would be tempted to play the less than legal side of things. 

 

For the next few months, or for however long it took, she wasn't the Doctor. 

 

She was simply Susan Foreman-Campbell, administrative temporary worker from an agency that was a set-up by another set-up to one eventually owned and controlled by Torchwood. They had managed, after hiring a few clueless human resources people and giving her all the credentials she needed, short a few enough that would make her an ideal temp worker but not enough to make her unemployable.

 

When she a placement came up she was sent out until finally the opening she needed came up. One of the companies on the list finally needed someone to fill out a short in the office. 

 

Which was where she was now. 

 

She had been working here for a few days and so far she was nearly invisible. This incarnation had a Canadian accent, specifically one from Ontario. Her identity was from Canada - up North to be exact. Just enough to fit in but also far enough to explain any strange questions she might ask. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

If complaining would have gotten him anywhere, he would have been complaining right then. Thankfully, he had been able to get a position at the same company as the Doctor, only in the mail room 

 

It was horrendously dry and boring work but it had a rather interesting side effect of giving Jack the excuse to be anywhere at any time. His duties took him there. Unlike the Doctor he had been hired on permanently. Mail room duties, unless someone called in sick, were not temp worker fare. It was a good thing considering two temps from the same agency in a city where there were dozens of companies would have been slightly suspicious. 

 

At this point it had been agreed that it would also work better if the Doctor and he did not know each other. Susan Foreman-Campbell would be a stranger to him, and he wasn't using the name Jack Harkness either. Much to his amusement they had picked another name for him, one that was normal enough to fit him but not so normal as the original Doctor's favourite standby. 

 

The names suggested had run the entire alphabet but it had been Ianto who suggested something that either started with a J or sounded similar, that way if he accidentally turned to the sound of his own name, it could be explained away as he thought he heard his name being called but when he realized it wasn't he ignored it. It would be believable if the sound was similar And then a properly modern but not too modern name had to be settled on. That brought the massive list down to eight possible first, given, names he could use to eight. Six started with the letter J and the other two started with G, but was a close enough sound the same to make the list. Then he'd try out each name for a day or two to see which he could settle on the best. 

 

The name settled on ended up being Jeff, which was very, very close to Jack. It didn't seem it but Jack found he could answer to Jeff with little to no hesitation, and when yelled out -- except for the fact that the soft 'f' was different than the hard 'k' -- it almost twinned his name. It was different enough to not immediately associate with Jack. 

 

Given his American accent, they decided to stick with that as a cover story. He came up from down South for a girlfriend, and then they broke up but by then he had his permanent resident's papers. He was working on his dual citizenship, same as so many others in Toronto. 

 

From there they had to pick a last name. Jack decided he would be from Los Angeles, California. It was far enough to not run into just anyone from there, but yet big enough to still disappear into. It was also a very metropolitan area with numerous others from many different backgrounds so he could play a bit. Not a lot, but a bit. But, since Susan had already taken both Foreman and Campbell, he needed something different. It needed to be something that mixed in and faded. That list had grown out of control. 

 

But eventually it had settled to Jeffrey Ashton Chase, or just Jeff Chase. The most amusing part about the name was that the initials were his name, albeit missing the 'k'. 

 

He was on his rounds, which was a boring job of simply pushing a cart full of mail for the section he was assigned to and delivering mail to the various desks and offices. "Hey, Mr. LA!" called one of the girls he had warmed up to quickly on his first day, until she had noticed his slight American accent. 

 

There wasn't much of a difference between an American accent and a Canadian one, unless you were Canadian. At which point a person got noticed. They were almost as bad as the British only the accents were not as varied in the UK, however, they could peg a person as not from the same area as they were based on inflections just as easily. He still got on with her quite well but had to endure the ribbing from being from the US. It was at least friendly ribbing, but still there. 

 

"Hey, Becca, what's up?" he asked. 

 

"I was wondering if you were free at lunch." Jack listened to her but had noticed the red head behind her. 

 

He could only see the woman from the back and he was struck with a sense of dread and familiarity. It was a rivulet of shock, but he couldn't place where or when. He listened with half an ear to Becca, and agreed to meet her for lunch. He could use the distraction, really. This job was beginning to drive him out of his mind in boredom and he hadn't found anything suspicious yet. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

It was at break on the same day that a preset plan of action for the Doctor and Jack to 'get to know each other' was put into action so that they could be seen at work together without raising suspicion. Becca was followed by the Doctor for break, to get tea, and Jack had made sure he had made arrangements to also meet Becca. Becca had no idea what was going on - she was merely a convenient connection within the company with no connections to them, UNIT or even Torchwood. 

 

It made her perfect and randomly convenient. 

 

Jack felt a bit guilty for using her that way, but still... 

 

Becca introduced them and Jack lifted a brow, watching her leave and letting his gaze linger on the Doctor for a long moment when the break ended, much to Becca's consternation. 

 

The next day, the Doctor bent over to get something in the lower cupboard during lunch and Jack again let his gaze linger a bit too long that was totally necessary. He went back to work and was thoroughly ribbed. "Jeff, Jeff..." said one of the clerks there. "She's way out of your league. And her name sounds like she could even be married. Hyphenated like those professional types do, anyway." 

 

"Doesn't mean she's married," said Jack in response. "Can't hurt to ask." 

 

"And if she is?" 

 

"Oh well..." said Jack, with a grin. "Plenty of fish in the sea." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The next day, she bent over again, and he looked. Only this time she 'caught him' and, stood up abruptly and glared at him, to which he flashed his trademarked grin and then looked away in feigned innocence. The same co-worker shook his head and remarked later, "You have a death wish, Jeff..." 

 

"Can you blame me?" 

 

"On her? No... that one has attracted attention in the office. Exotic beauty with a non-exotic name..." 

 

Jack caught that. She'd been noticed as something about her had not gelled the way it should have. The name and her looks for one. 

 

On the third day, Jack felt the looking and grinning had gone far enough and moved the game to the next stage. Instead of sitting with his colleagues at lunch he walked over to her table. "Mind if I share your table?" he asked, throwing a catching his apple in the air. 

 

"I do mind, actually," she answered, not coldly, but definitely dismissively. "I won't be here long." 

 

"Aw, too bad," said Jack as he winked and walked away back to his colleagues. 

 

"Nice try, Jeff," said his coworker, shaking his head and putting his face in one hand. "You don't give up do you?" 

 

"Never!" maintained Jack with a laugh. 

 

The next day he tried again and Susan let him sit with her. They filled the lunch with inane and small talk, quiet but boring. At the end of the lunch, Jack waved good bye until break, and Susan went back to her desk. She still had a few minutes left to her lunch. She was surprised when a coworker came up to her and in a very familiar accent, one from Chiswick, said, "You so have to dish on that one, Sunshine." 

 

The Doctor felt her throat close as she looked up into the green eyes of Donna Noble, who now leaned on the cubicle wall of her workspace. "I'm sorry?" asked the Doctor, stunned. 

 

"That dishy mail room clerk. So... what's he like?" asked Donna again. "And don't tell me you didn't notice - you'd have to be dead not to. A guy like that? Puh-lease... what's the matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." 

 

"You remind me of an old friend of mine... gone now... and the resemblance is rather uncanny and unexpected. I'm fine now." 

 

Donna's eyes softened in that way that they usually did when she honestly felt for someone, which, ironically, only made the pain that had settled into the Doctor's twin hearts even worse. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The next day, Jack and the Doctor had a more animated, less cool lunch. The developing romance was getting noticed, but that was the point of the charade. What they didn't want noticed was that they already knew each other and in that they were successful. At last break he finally asked Susan, "Would you find me totally inappropriate and report me to HR if I asked to meet you outside of work?" 

 

"That depends," she answered. "Where would you want to meet?" 

 

"Oh, nothing too inappropriate... maybe for coffee at a cafe or something..." Jack leaned back in the chair and breathed in the hot, humid, June air. 

 

Anyone who said Canada was a cold country had not tried to sit outside during the really hot summer days in Ontario. It was sweltering, humid and heavy. The sun was bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, nor would there be, which made the heat all the more worse as pretty as it made the day. One of the weather announcers had even fried an egg on the pavement. They would have stayed inside in the air conditioned comfort but that meant being inside and it was, as hot as it was, a beautiful day out.

 

"I'd love to, that's suitably neutral and public enough," she agreed with a laugh. 

 

"There's a coffee shop on Yonge..." 

 

"Are you crazy?" she asked suddenly, looking at him strangely. "That's not altogether close to here. And there are plenty of coffee shops at this end of town." 

 

"Yeah, but where I'm thinking is the core of the old city, near the ROM. Maybe we can catch a sight or two while we're down there," he pointed out. 

 

"Oh, all right. Parking is a mess but I'm sure I'll figure something out." 

 

"Where can we meet if we catch the Metro?" 

 

"The what?" 

 

"The bus system or subway...?" he tried again. 

 

"Oh, you mean the TTC. Where are you from, Mr. Chase?" she asked coyly. 

 

"You caught me... I'm not even Canadian..." he leaned in conspiratorially. "I'm from DC. Originally LA. As you can see... slowly working my way North. In DC it's the Metro." 

 

"Yeah, here and you call it that you give yourself away," she pointed out. "So, when and where?" 

 

"Oh, ah... how about Saturday in the afternoon, say around noon so we can sleep in if we happen to find ourselves out on Friday, wouldn't want to crimp your style." He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "But early enough so that if we catch a sight we have time to enjoy it. Make a lunch date... informal and relaxing... what do you think?" 

 

"I think you got yourself a date." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Jack walked back to the mail room, grinning as the clerk who talked to him asked, "Well?" 

 

"She agreed to see me on Saturday and catch a few sights," Jack put his two thumbs up, and the clerks let out a whoop. 

 

"Nice one, man, no one... and I mean no one... thought anyone could get the Ice Queen to melt." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Susan slipped into her desk and was immediately beset by both Becca and Donna. "Okay... I agreed to see him outside of work. But nothing has happened yet..." she pointed her fingers at them before they could ask. "So don't get your hopes up." 

 

"You go girl," winked Becca as she went back to work. 

 

Donna grinned and clapped her hands. "You... will so dish on Monday... mark my words..." she also pointed a finger as she backed over to her own desk. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The warehouse was well organized and lit as well as a warehouse would typically be. No one wanted any reason for the Ministry of Labour to stick their noses in and so the company kept its property clean, maintained and safe. To avoid other attention, they didn't bother to make it posh or too upscale. Just enough to keep up with those around them but no more. While they maintained it was to keep up appearances and not embarrass their neighbours, but not cost effective for anything else, in truth it was simply to mix in and not give outsiders any reason to single them out. 

 

It wasn't far from the shipping district on Lake Ontario but was still on the shores of Lake Ontario with its own docking slip, and the container ship moored at it was being loaded with the typical containers. 

 

Two people walked between the containers, and deeper among the containers where they began to look less like the typical, Earth, shipping containers and a whole lot more otherworldly, not to mention sealed environments. There was a barely perceptible hum and one of the people checked the seals on it just as a crane set a container, with the top removed, down beside the alien container. They put the straps on the alien one and the crane lifted it, manoeuvred it, and placed it in the human container as a shell. It then lifted the top and the workers placed it on the container. The crane then returned to its normal work of loading the ship while the two workers welded the container back together again. 

 

They then slipped away as the crane moved that container onto the ship, with no one the wiser. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT THREE**

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

The coffee shop wasn't crowded, nor was it one of those French affairs one seen entirely too often that it was nearly a cliche. Nor was it necessarily a coffee shop, but it served fantastic food and the prices weren't all that bad. Jack looked at Susan suspiciously. She had zoned in on it almost like she had been here before. 

 

Bonissimo Caffe was more Eastern European, it had a distinct Russian and Moldavian feel to it. It was warm and welcoming. Then again, it wasn't on Yonge either as once they had got down there, they both agreed that Starbucks wasn't necessarily to their tastes, nor was the local Tim Horton's or Timothy's. She fit right in with her current incarnation. He would have loved to ask why she insisted on using the name Susan Foreman-Campbell, besides the obvious, and one that would have fit with this incarnation but they both knew that appearances still had to be maintained. 

 

So they spoke in code to relay information or covered it with inane things from their cover stories. Things to throw off any suspicions. 

 

They ate, paid and left the caffe. During the walk she leaned in and said, "Donna is here." 

 

Jack almost jumped out of his skin. "Does she have any idea?" 

 

The Doctor shook her head. Jack sighed. "I thought I saw her on my first day, when I first met Becca, but I wasn't sure. Now I know."

 

"Stay clear," warned the Doctor. "Did my grandfather ever tell you what happened after they returned the Earth during that affair with the Daleks?" 

 

"No, why... what happened?" asked Jack. 

 

"He had to lock away everything - the metacrisis would have killed her otherwise. Neither of them got away from that..." she trailed off. "If she remembers she will die. She can't remember... so stay clear as much as possible so it doesn't accidentally jog her memory. And yes, it's possible. The mind is a complex and tricky thing. Things are blocked away, never erased, and sometimes a necessary connection can suddenly connect and the memories come back... do you understand what I am saying?" 

 

"Yeah," answered Jack darkly. "I'll do my best not to be seen." 

 

"Too late for that, I'm afraid... she's already demanded for details of my date with 'Mr. Dishy'," said the Doctor with a trace of irony in her voice. 

 

They both laughed at that, but the laughter was sad and mournful. "I wonder why she's here... and what happened to Shaun Temple..." mused the Doctor. 

 

Jack turned to her and asked, "Who?" 

 

"Her husband. She got married after my grandfather wiped her memory." 

 

"I could look into it for you." 

 

"No, no... leave it be for now. That could be taken as suspicious." 

 

Jack nodded. "Okay." He then grinned widely and gave her a poke in the ribs. "Well, my dear Doctor, so what it took to get you out on a date with me... was coffee and not tea?" 

 

The Doctor slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "So not funny." 

 

"So was." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The afternoon in the ROM went quickly, although the Doctor had to keep biting her tongue as much as Jack did about how sometimes the curators had it a little wrong... and that they had both been there a few times to know... 

 

Finally, Jack asked and cajoled her into a dinner and a movie. "We're out now, may as well..." 

 

She looked at him sideways, for the benefit of anyone who might overhear. In truth she was enjoying her relaxed day just wandering with no hint of trouble with Jack. Too bad it had to be in the guise of Jeff and Susan. "Aren't we perhaps moving a bit fast?" 

 

He laughed and hugged her, which she didn't fight to free herself from. "You're a temp, have to be quick before your contract is up, eh?" 

 

Susan laughed, sighed, shook her head and then finally agreed with a simple, "Oh all right. You win! Sounds like fun anyway."

 

Dinner was at another restaurant, not as downtown but still no-where close to either of their apartments. The movie was in the same block. 

 

And then Jack, feeling adventurous, managed to talk her into a few drinks at a relaxed but upscale (and rather expensive) bar. Susan could have taken him drink for drink, but they had to appear to be on a limited, but not too limited budget and human, so after a few drinks she made like she was less than steady on her feet, as he did. He hailed a cab, and after a short... perhaps too short... discussion it was decided that because his apartment was closer that they both would go there. 

 

"Now I think you're moving a bit too fast," she giggled as she got into the cab with him. "But I don't care!" 

 

Jack grinned and paid the cab driver for the not cheap at all taxi ride. 

 

Once in the apartment, she sobered slightly, scanned for bugs, found none and nodded to Jack. They were abruptly sober and finally able to talk plainly. "So, we've been there for a few weeks. Have you found anything?" 

 

He shook his head. "The place looks clean. There are inconsistencies but nothing like what Torchwood would be looking for. We may have to move to the next one." He sighed and leaned back. "I'd have to go through the bother of creating another alias and getting hired again, and your agency would have to find a reason to move you to the next contract... unless we switched roles." 

 

"Let's give it one more day, or even to the end of the week." 

 

"Sounds fine to me. Maybe I will have worked out why the inconsistencies. If nothing else, it will give the CRA something to look at," said Jack as he looked at the bed in the room and then grinned. "You know, this apartment is quite small... I don't even have a bedroom as this is a bachelor apartment... so just the one bed and I sleep in the nude." 

 

She gave him a half heated glare and sighed. "And I didn't bring anything to sleep in but my knickers and camisole, or my clothes, and I'd rather they not be wrinkled tomorrow. Although Donna and Becca will notice that I haven't changed my clothes." 

 

"It's Sunday tomorrow." 

 

"I'm meeting them for lunch tomorrow," she answered. 

 

"Oh, now that's a problem," laughed Jack. "What will people say!" 

 

She punched his arm then. "Donna will want the naughty details..." 

 

"Well..." 

 

"Ugh, is that that all you think about?" she wrinkled her nose. 

 

"Don't Time Lords have to reproduce somehow?" asked Jack back. 

 

"Well, yes... but we are not so lewd about it." 

 

"Okay, then... come lay beside me. We don't have to do anything but if you want to, I won't be adverse to it."

 

Susan laid down beside Jack and let him pull her close, spooning up behind her as he pulled the covers up with a yawn. "Ah, I see," she said with a grin, as she let herself relax as well. "You're sleepy." 

 

"'s hard work keeping up appearances and dating you. Three dates in one night, phew..." he yawned again. "G'night Doctor." 

 

The Doctor sighed and laid her head down on the pillow, closing her eyes. "Good night, Jack." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The view from his office was spectacular, but Claude Vaillieux hardly ever noticed this. Often he was too busy to look out on the city and the lake that it sat on the edge of. Lake. That was funny. It was really more of an inland sea. There was a larger lake, far colder as well, to the North and West where another two cities (in Canada anyway) sat on its shores. 

 

Toronto was the one city that reminded him the most of the Citadel, if anyone knew to ask. It had very similar spires and in the fall the leaves on the trees were painfully identical. There was even a variant of the maple, which, as far as he knew, only grew in this part of the word that was even silver leaved with a red-brown trunk. When he had saw this he had nearly cried at the loss. 

 

The leaves didn't ring with a hidden song when the wind moved through them. Here, they had their own music, so different, but yet... if he closed his eyes... still close enough. 

 

It was much like Gallifrey here. 

 

A city on the cusp of wilds, untamed. Large, and often cold except when it wasn't. Well, cold if you were human, which he wasn't. He found the winters, and the cool fall and spring, comfortable where the humans looked to the spring with hope of far warmer (to only complain when it got too warm) and saw fall with despair where for him autumn was relief. 

 

A Time Lord, or even just another Gallifreyan, was used to a far cooler planet. Gallifrey would have likely surprised the humans. Despite the two suns, the planet was actually colder than Earth. His temperature was actually close to where a Time Lord found it comfortable. Unbearably warm was approximately 20 degrees Celsius for a Time Lord (although Time Lords had a very robust tolerance... it didn't mean they were comfortable with it...) while for a human the comfort level was a few degrees warmer, around the 23 degree to 25 degree mark and unbearably warm -- while it varied according to opinion -- was around 30 degrees which was a full ten degrees higher than a Time Lord's comfort level. What humans found cool sent a Time Lord running for an air conditioner. When a human found it too warm, the Time Lord, unless he really, really had to, would be likely sitting under it or in front of it trying to cool down and become comfortable again. 

 

It was one of the reasons Claude had chosen to live in Canada instead of a warmer country in the Commonwealth. Supposedly it was a colder country. Compared to Russia, it often was. 

 

He was shocked by the typical Southern Ontario summer. 

 

It was warmer than Florida and just as humid, without the respite of the breezes from the ocean. His Time Lord comfort level had been blown out of the water on the first hot day, only to learn that there was more to come over the course of the really long summer. 

 

He'd asked Torchwood to assign him elsewhere, but they were to milder climes. On average, Toronto was the colder of them all, especially in the winter, but the summers were brutal and they seemed to start in April and not end until October. Relief came in October and stayed until April when it began to warm again. Rapidly too. There barely seemed to be a week of any melt of any snow that might have fallen -- what had happened to the cold and snowy winters like on all those post cards?! -- before the weather turned warm... and then hot.

 

He eyed the Northern cities in jealously at that point only to learn that their summers were no better than Toronto's even if they came later and left sooner... and not by much. The largest of the Northern cities was Sudbury and it was only ever a month behind in the Spring, if that, or a month or two ahead in the fall. The winter was far colder and the snows deeper, considering they usually at least got snow. 

 

He had gone up once for the winter holiday for a winter festival of some sort. The lakes froze over solid enough to drive on. He hadn't trusted this and chose not to drive his car out onto one of the lakes or rivers, but saw others parked on them and driving them. The snow was deep enough to go over his boots and into his socks, but he had loved it. It was a day trip from Toronto, not more than a five hour drive, to a winter wonderland. His secretary had been horrified at his taking a trip to go someplace even colder instead of "escaping" someplace warm. He began to book his vacations for summers and would go further North to see where the cooler places were. He'd gone to Siberia once, but had come back to Canada in the end. It was quicker to head North here than elsewhere. 

 

Although, he now took a yearly trip to Norway and Sweden and booked off three weeks for it as the travel time was brutal. He could have cheated and used his TARDIS except... no... there was no point in thinking about that. 

 

He was lucky enough to be entitled to one three-week vacation a year, plus any statutory weekends except in times of crisis at which point any booked time off was cancelled and he had to come back. It was for this reason he preferred to stay close to home. 

 

Claude was reading the reports and going over them with great interest. This Doctor was a meticulous note-taker, a far cry from the one he knew. Jack wasn't all that bad either. He would have had to have been, considering he was the former Director of Torchwood Three. Claude had read his older reports and noted the change in tone over the years. Especially now. 

 

The other reports from other agents were all adding up to one thing. 

 

This was turning into a giant wild goose chase and unlike one giant goose (or was that a loon?) in Wawa, this wasn't an easy one to find. The door opened and the UNIT liaison walked in. He looked up. "I am sure there is something going on here," said Claude as he shuffled through the papers again. 

 

"How can you know that?" asked Lieutenant Austin Hsu of UNIT, the liaison assigned to Torchwood by UNIT. 

 

Torchwood also had their own liaison, one Gwen Cooper from Torchwood Three. He saw her every so often as she spent most of her time in the UK where, for some reason, UNIT was headquartered. She sometimes came here if the Brigadier General was here. Which she was considering the situation. He wondered where Magambo was if she sent Hsu instead. 

 

"I have many years of experience of being able to pick out where and when a situation arises, Austin," answered Claude and he looked up at Hsu. 

 

Hsu's face was unreadable, but in the tense stance Claude could see a certain amount of stress. "Out with it, man," said Claude. "You have something to say." 

 

"Your American counterpart, Seven Seven... what used to be Torchwood America... is brewing to move in." 

 

Claude looked at him sharply, although Hsu knew it wasn't actually aimed at him. "They will stay where they are unless asked. Canada is not part of the USA and their interference would be unwelcome... however... I am not against a joint operation with the agencies working together." 

 

Hsu remained quiet, but he could see by the subtle relaxation in the tense muscles that Claude's answer was the more welcome one by UNIT, but only just. Claude read the second part of what UNIT wanted. With a sigh, Claude hit a button on his phone to contact his personal assistant. "Em, contact Section Seven and ask for a liaison to be sent to Toronto. Make it clear that only said liaison and one personal assistant is allowed on Canadian soil." When Em responded in the affirmative, he hit the button and turned the phone off. "For now, you can tell your superiors that this is still only a joint venture with UNIT and Torchwood Canada, and with the S-7 liaison serving as advisor only... just in case this ends up branching out into the US. Will that satisfy UNIT?" 

 

"Yes sir," answered Hsu, and Claude inwardly groaned knowing that this had been Magambo's plan the entire time. 

 

How well the little human knew him without actually knowing him! 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

On Monday, the Doctor and Jack returned to work. Donna of course noticed that, during their lunch on Sunday that her clothes had been the same as on Saturday. She had told Becca and now the three were conferencing around Susan's desk. "Well?" asked Becca. "Donna said you showed up slightly late, without your car and in the same clothes as Saturday. What gives?" 

 

"Okay, so I stayed overnight at his place," admitted Susan and the two other women gasped, then grinned like schoolgirls. 

 

"Dish," ordered Donna. 

 

"The date lasted longer than expected." 

 

"Oh, I'm so sure it did," said Becca with a grin. 

 

"Don't read so much into it!" 

 

"So... what else happened?" asked Donna. 

 

"What?!" asked Susan as she choked on her coffee. "Donna! Really! I've said enough on the subject." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Jack walked into work and his coworkers looked up. The one that he usually talked with grinned. "So, how was the weekend?" 

 

"Good," answered Jack, still grinning. 

 

"Oh no way, you didn't... not with the Ice Queen..." said another one. 

 

Jack grinned and shook his head. "The most you'll get out of me is that she's no Ice Queen once you get her to warm up. What she is, though, is a widow. So... she requires a sensitive touch," said Jack. "And we didn't do anything. It was very tame, compared to what you're thinking. I will admit I wanted to, but knowing that I... well... I didn't want to push her." 

 

There was a bit of a stunned silence in the mail room and the one he worked with the most said, "Well, that does explain a lot about her." 

 

The others nodded and the other piped up, "She isn't the only temp widow... that redhead... Donna, I think her name was... the English one... she's a widow too. I heard her tell Becca that her husband was killed in a car accident back home, where ever it is and she couldn't stay there anymore, so we went travelling because it felt natural." 

 

Jack filed that away for the future. The Doctor would definitely want to know that about her grandfather's friend. Not to mention the two were now on even ground, if in fact they hadn't always been. There was a hint that bothered Jack immensely, ever since having to go after the Doctor to save her from her own father. The one person they had never met, and he had expected to given how many members of the original Doctor's family had been kicking about on that asteroid, was the Doctor's actual wife and mother of his children. She had had been no-where to be found, and from the look of it, especially given Hawke's attitude regarding his own father, as well as Susan's, the original Doctor must have been a widower long before the Time War. The question was how long before. 

 

Was that the reason he had started travelling? Jack had never given it much thought until Donna's reason had been thrown almost literally in his lap. Due to the metacrisis, it was entirely possible that a coping mechanism of the Doctor's was influencing Donna. If that were true, it explained entirely too much about the original Doctor and why he always did what he did. 

 

Home and the memories of home would have been painful before the destruction of Gallifrey, never mind the feeling of knowing that even if he wanted to he could never go home and walk the halls he shared with a wife and family after the War. 

 

Jack could relate. 

 

He worked the rest of the afternoon, mulling that one over. He was nearing the last break when he was pulled into his supervisor's office. "Ah, Jeff... it came to our attention that you are pursuing a possible conflict of interest with a temp in the office." 

 

"Oh?" asked Jack, surprised by this. 

 

"So, in the meantime, we are assigning you to the secondary mail room at the actual warehouse at the docks." His supervisor leaned back, have expecting his new employee to rail against the unfair treatment, even if it was completely fair, but the blow-up didn't come. 

 

"Okay, when would you like me to start there?" asked Jack, rolling with it. 

 

"Well, to give you some time to adjust, perhaps on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be your last day at this location." 

 

Jack nodded. "Okay, uhm, that will give me time to take a look at the new location and figure out the new drive to work. See what it's like at different times of day, or see if maybe perhaps I don't need to drive at all." 

 

"That's a great attitude, Jeff!" beamed his supervisor. "Keep that up and you'll be promoted." 

 

Jack grinned. "Sure, boss!" 

 

"Well, I'll let you get back to it," said his supervisor in dismissal. 

 

Jack turned and walked out, not sure if he should tell the others or not. He knew who he was telling -- and she would likely be as amused as he was. Location wise, that was precisely where he needed to be to see the real guts of the operation. If there was anything questionable, it would be in the warehouse, not the office. 

 

On last break, he told Susan that Jeff would be relocating to the other location. He saw the telltale lift of an eyebrow and the very subtle smirk on her lips. She'd read between the lines and her thought process was indeed running the same way. 

 

After work they laughed wholeheartedly on how well things had gone... but Jack never remembered to tell the Doctor what he had learned about Donna. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT FOUR**

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Since Jack had left for the other location, Donna had decided to move in on Susan. Susan didn't refuse her. There was something that seemed to pull them together like magnets. Donna seemed to always know what Susan needed and Susan found she was doing something she knew her grandfather had always done with Donna. It was them again, if only with the blissful unawareness of it. 

 

The Doctor didn't want to know what her grandfather would have thought. She knew by her own mixed feelings what was likely. 

 

Donna was as chatty as ever, until someone made the mistake of asking Susan why the hyphenated name. Susan froze, and Donna read into it, her lips pressed into a thin line. "You too, eh?" asked Donna quietly and the Doctor felt her eyes widen in shock. 

 

_Oh Donna, no... you were supposed to be happy_ ... thought the Doctor mournfully. Donna nodded as she patted the Doctor's hand, but turned to the other. "Back off, you prawn, she's like me." Donna turned back and asked the question the Doctor wasn't sure how to answer. "How long?"

 

Oh by the sweaty knickers of Rassilon, how was she supposed to answer that one? 

 

_Well, it's like this... sometime in the future after the Daleks actually succeed in taking over the Earth, my grandfather -- that's the Doctor you remember, by the way... he just never had regenerated before yet -- and I liberated the humans and I fell in love with a young revolutionary. He was so brave and didn't fear the Daleks... and he helped save my grandfather... flash forward about twenty years and some douche bag would ruin all that by freeing a new bunch of Daleks, and he'd kidnap me..._

 

_My grandfather came back, but I didn't know that, in his Eighth incarnation and he and David worked together to rescue me, but... my grandfather realized that the douche bag that kidnapped me who didn't know I was another Time Lord was the Master. Have you ever met him? No? Don't want to either, you aren't missing anything._

 

_Anyway, the Master tried to kill my grandfather but David jumped in front of him at the very last second so the Master shot them both. Two for one special, that! I thought them dead so when the Master took me on his TARDIS I used the telepathic circuits to overload his senses, gave him the option like my grandfather would have, but he didn't take it so I shot the bastard dead with his own gun and took his TARDIS. David died, my grandfather didn't._

 

_Travelled for awhile until the Master's TARDIS landed on Earth and refused to go anywhere else, so I raised the son I also thought dead alone and never saw my grandfather again until Alex was about twenty or so. He hadn't regenerated! He left, the War happened. He came back in his thirteenth and died in my arms. Long story short, my husband died years ago but at the same time he hasn't even been born yet_ ...

 

_About those apples_ ... mused Susan. So she simply answered, "It's... been awhile. What about you?"

 

"Shaun was killed in a car accident. I was at home. Between the lottery ticket some random friend of my Granddad's gave us, which won us millions, and the insurance money I don't have to work but it keeps me busy," Donna got a faraway look on her face. "And I... you'll likely find this strange... but I felt like I was needed here." 

 

The Doctor swallowed, but Donna didn't see her discomfort. That wasn't a good sign. Oh it was. Ever brilliant, Donna was. But if she was feeling hints then it was possible that the blocks to protect her were slipping. 

 

* * * * * * * 

 

It was another container, and another alien container. The work was going full tilt and the noise was horrendous. Jack held two envelopes in his hands that were meant for the shop foreman. He swallowed as he watched the crane work.  _So much for the company being completely innocent_ , he thought ruefully. He had come to genuinely like his co-workers but now he wasn't sure who was in on it and who was not.

 

Jack looked down and then backed out of the room, nonchalantly, making like he was more concerned with his toes and other extremities in the face of heavy construction... just in case he had been observed he wanted to be sure they thought that he thought he had backed out for fear of his personal safety due to a lack of the normal safety equipment in construction work, such as his lack of steel toes or other special clothing. 

 

He looped around to the foreman's office and dropped off the two envelopes before making his way, again, avoiding the work area, to the secondary mail room that was his new home until 'Susan' no longer worked for the same company as he did and was subsequently reassigned to a new company. 

 

So far, so good. Either no one had seen him at all or they had bought his phony concerns. Jack went back to work, filing away the information suddenly gained as well as keeping a close eye on his environment for now on. Not only for the very real concern of his lack of steel toes (that would be rectified tomorrow!) but also to be sure that he wasn't suddenly going to disappear for knowing too much. 

 

Hopefully they continued to think he was a clueless human living in the early 21st century. 

 

* * * * * * * 

 

Three people sat in Claude's office that day. One of whom was Claude himself, the other was none other than the legendary Brigadier-General, now retired (sometimes), Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT and the liaison sent to them from Section Seven. 

 

"I really must insist on our being brought in on this, not just as outside advisors," said the woman from Section Seven, Special Agent Sheila Thomson. "It may have been a few... hundred... years since Section Seven and Torchwood were one and the same but we are, at the core, the same organization. Just because we are American and not part of the English Commonwealth anymore doesn't mean we should be at odds."

 

"To do so at this point would jeopardize our operative's cover, as well as the person from UNIT on the inside," answered Claude with a tone of finality. 

 

Sir Alistair looked from the Section Seven Special Agent to the Director of Torchwood and back again. Magambo had told him, in that clipped way of hers, that he was useful here and to please come out of retirement, just for this one thing. She was being pulled in too many different directions and while she could trust another office, this would be right up Sir Alistair's alley. She had no time to brief him beyond that, and it was too classified and sensitive to trust to another. 

 

The involvement by Torchwood was a surprise, but the Brig was good at rolling with things. This was indeed a challenge worth coming out of retirement for, and he had his suspicions on who was involved if UNIT felt he was the best man for the job. 

 

Suspicions confirmed moments later when Thomson said, "Oh please, we know Jack Harkness is on the case, he's been seen... and even more interesting was that he was seen once already here... not on entry. Which, given all the fears over terrorism..." 

 

"... Not at all encouraged by your colleagues in Langley," pointed out Claude. 

 

She shrugged and then continued, "Not to mention no record at all of him entering Canada or North America at all, not even by CCTV... interesting, don't you think?" 

 

Claude kept his face carefully neutral. "This is Canadian soil, not American, and if I saw fit to have a member of Torchwood enter Canada under my jurisdiction, that is my business, not yours. We only brought in your agency in case it does happen to cross the border... not for Section Seven to intrude on our case." 

 

Thomson held up her hands in surrender. "I understand, and we would feel the same if the situation were reversed, we just want to know if UNIT's special man... what was his name again... oh right... he doesn't have one... the Doctor, I believe? We want to know if he's here. We've always been impressed with his work and if possible I'd love to shake his hand and I have been authorized to ask him for independent consulting work. Of course, nothing that would interfere with the security of our sovereign nations..." 

 

Claude looked over at Alistair and Alistair suddenly had the feeling that, yes, blast it all, the Doctor was here. How else did Jack get here? "I am not privy to say," answered Alistair, and he looked at Claude for a moment. 

 

Just for a second he could have sensed Claude's feelings on the Doctor meeting Section Seven. That'd be a cold day in hell, seemed to be their mutual thought. They both knew why Section Seven really wanted the Doctor, and it had nothing to do with shaking his or her hand. Alistair wondered if, again, he had crossed his own time stream or jumped ahead. He'd like to see him again. Especially knowing what Alistair did now. 

 

The unbidden memory of the memorial at Stonehenge came to mind. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Jack waited at the door of the Doctor's apartment, which was also where the TARDIS was hidden within and away from the prying eyes of anyone who might see. When she pulled in, he grinned as he walked with her, kissing her lightly on the cheek and making small talk about their day. 

 

Once inside, she made a pass with her sonic screwdriver, and then they entered the TARDIS where they could speak without worrying about even any missed ones. The TARDIS had that effect on things. 

 

Jack sighed in relief as did the Doctor. "We're on the right track," he said. 

 

"Oh?" she asked. 

 

"Yeah, walked into something by sheer chance. They're hiding alien containers in human ones. I have no idea what's in the alien ones, but it's enough for Torchwood to step in." 

 

The Doctor nodded as Jack continued to tell her of his day, which was more normal than what he had reported. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Outside the apartment, two people watched. They used cameras and long range microphones to pick up what was being said, if anything was, but strangely enough nothing was heard. Jeff and Susan had gone into Susan's apartment and it had simply gone quiet from there. That wasn't too bad, as most new buildings were too well insulated to listen through anyway. 

 

The second one was on a laptop with a satellite connection, and he pulled the other to the screen as the picture of Jeff came up on the screen, with Torchwood identification, as not Jeff, but Jack Harkness, the former Director of Torchwood Three in Cardiff. The two looked at each other and the one on the computer ran another search of known acquaintances. The two were surprised when there was a second hit on the search. 

 

Donna Noble. 

 

"She didn't even bother to hide, and in fact, everything checks out. She's only told the truth," said the first one. "Maybe it's a coincidence. They don't appear to know each other, but then again, they haven't exactly made contact except through that girlfriend." 

 

"Could be," agreed the one with the camera. "But my gut says he's working with someone and she's the only one he could be. Maybe the girlfriend is a cover -- convenient messenger girl and lay at the same time. Or maybe she's in on it, but she's not associated with UNIT, us or Torchwood. Born, educated and married in Canada to an American husband. I'd say they're using her as a messenger and that Jack fellow, given his rep, is sleeping with her because it's convenient and she's not that bad on the eyes. Maybe Donna is innocent of this as well, we haven't seen any signs of messaging or contact. They're either so subtle we can't see it or she's not in on it either and someone else is. Bring her in anyway. Maybe she can help us shake the tree for the fruit, even if not connected." 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT FIVE**

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Jack came into work, now sporting his steel toes, and went immediately to his area to begin the morning sort. He looked up for a moment. Something wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it, though. And it wasn't as if he was a strong, or as well trained, psychic as the Doctor. But, he could pick up on the stirrings of violence and excitement in the air. 

 

There was also raw fear. 

 

He then noticed how alone he was. 

 

He took a breath, finished the sort and put it all on the cart. He moved out of the room and around the corner to come face to face with two aliens. "You are Torchwood, sent to stop us." 

 

"What?" he asked, surprised. 

 

Dammit. He had been so sure they had not seen him... that he had covered his tracks. He was pulled into a side office, and then through a door in the wall and down other corridors that were dark and not well lit. 

 

Jack thought ruefully about the cellphone in his pocket but that he wouldn't have the chance to call for help. "So, fellas... any chance you've got coffee down here? Kind of left the house late and didn't have time to stop on the way..." 

 

"Shut up!" ordered the second one. 

 

"Damn... oh well... hmm... threesome. Kinky..." 

 

The first one swore in a language he didn't understand and lapsed to Trade Common. "He's as bad as the files we have on him say he is." 

 

"I'm flattered! You have files on me!" he answered back in the same language. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

The Doctor was also at work, just sitting down and turning on her computer, actually, when she heard Donna's voice raised. The tone suggested anger, and then she caught the words. "What is the meaning of this?!" shouted Donna. 

 

This can't be good, mused the Doctor. She got up and walked around the corner. Three suited people in black suits were trying to herd Donna off the floor and to the elevator. One of them, a woman, turned to the Doctor and the others and said, "Go back to work." 

 

"Wait, that's the other one's girlfriend," said the second one. 

 

The Doctor blinked and felt her gut churn. That meant Jack, and if they were trying to herd them off, that meant Jack got caught. His cover was likely blown and if they were herding Donna off they were searching for his colleagues and just grabbing anyone in his past. This incarnation of the Doctor was not known -- they had no pictures of her current body -- and therefore wasn't suspect. 

 

However, Donna's association with the original Doctor, her grandfather, and then that Doctor's connection to Jack had pulled her into all this. 

 

Again. 

 

She didn't even need to think about it as she was already pulling out her sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the nearest computer. She pressed the activator, not even checking on the setting. The computer exploded, showering everyone in sparks and computer parts. The nearest agent and the wall were showered with bits of hot metal and plastic and he screamed as he attempted to put out the very sticky and hot parts stuck to his suit and some of his exposed skin.

 

The Doctor grabbed Donna's hand and pulled her along, only sparing a moment to say, "Run!" 

 

The distraction caused the agents to be stunned and confused, so they didn't react right away. By that time Donna and the Doctor had already made their way to the opposite side of the floor and to the stairs. There was a shout, "She's in on it too!" 

 

By the time the agents looked, the door was already closing and the Doctor soniced it so that it fused closed. "Oi! Wait a minute!" demanded Donna and the Doctor stopped midway down the flight of stairs. "What the hell is going on here?" 

 

"Donna, trust me right now, you need to run. Come with me, I have friends that can get you home where you're safe and they'll keep those away from you." 

 

"Why does this seem familiar?" Donna's demand turned into an alarmed moan as she clutched at her head. "It's like I... I've done this before but I know I haven't." 

 

The Doctor stepped back up to the stairs just as Donna straightened with a grin on her face. "But damn it all if I don't love it anyway. Who the hell are you?" 

 

"My name is Susan Foreman-Campbell," answered the Doctor. "I'm known by other names, and I'll be glad to explain later, but right now we need to get the hell out of here." 

 

"I remember something about a Susan, but I can't... just can't put my finger on it," whispered Donna as she followed the Doctor, and then she clutched the Doctor's arm to the point of pain. "Why can't I remember?" 

 

"Donna, don't even try," begged the Doctor. "Please... for your own sake... don't even try. I promise I'll get you out of this." Susan took out her phone, soniced it, and called Torchwood. The answer was almost immediate on that number. "This is the Doctor, Jack's cover has been blown and in the process so was mine. We have collateral damage and it needs containing." 

 

After a short confirmation, the Doctor hung up the phone while Donna grinned as she followed her down the stairs. "You're some sort of secret agent, aren't you?" 

 

"Something like that," answered the Doctor, drily. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Claude stood up as one of his people came in with a slip of paper. He looked over at Alistair and Thomson. "I'm sorry, this is something that we need to look into. Can you excuse me for a second?" 

 

Both Alistair and Thomson thinned their eyes in suspicion. Thomson held out her hand and gave the assistant her card. "Keep me in the loop, Director Vaillieux." 

 

"Of course," he said, but thought,  _Like hell I will unless I really have to_ ...

 

Alistair stayed a moment longer than he did and Claude said simply, "Have your people ready to move. We have the target that needs raiding." 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

The Doctor and Donna managed to snake their way out to the parking garage and then to safety. Donna turned and said, "Jack was assigned to a new location. It's only a block from here." 

 

"Yes, I know, Donna, and thank you... but you need to run now. Take this and call UNIT. They can help you." 

 

"You are some sort of secret agent, but I expected for some sort of enemy, not the government itself." 

 

The Doctor smiled sadly. "Oh Donna... just go." 

 

"You know how to get to the place on your own, Sunshine?" asked Donna suddenly. 

 

"I figured I'd find the place by using my sonic..." 

 

"Don't be such a dunce, Secret Agent Girl," said Donna in exasperation. "Listen, I've been here longer than you and I've worked in both places. Let me get you in. Then I promise I'll run. But after all this you can't just leave me out here on my own, communication device or no." 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Claude walked into the situation room and then another assistant saluted. "Sir, we have new information – we got a picture of the agents that took Jack. They're Section Seven. The entire thing is a trap. There were no slaves, and if there were, Section Seven was the ones sneaking them in but the major part of the op wasn't here – this is a trap for the Doctor. Section Seven wants the Doctor and this will lead her right into the middle of it." 

 

Claude made the snap decision as she ran out. "Call UNIT and tell them where to meet us. I'm going in personally." 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Donna led her into the building and then into the room. Jack was strapped down to a chair where an unfamiliar woman stood in front of him. Jack looked like he had been beaten. 

 

The woman was a tall, leggy, blonde woman who was smartly dressed in a black pantsuit. "Come now, Mr. Harkness, you honestly expect us to believe that you were doing this alone? Or even if not alone, that your friend the Doctor isn't here? We found the Companion, Donna Noble. I expect my people are bringing her here. Perhaps she can tell us where the Doctor is if you won't." 

 

Donna looked at the Doctor in surprise, but the Doctor put a hand on her arm and shook her head, the meaning clear. Not now. Later. 

 

Hands grabbed them and dragged them into the light and the woman looked over as Donna and the Doctor were pulled over. Jack closed his eyes in despair. The woman looked over at Donna. "Hello, Ms. Noble. My name is Special Agent Thomson. Where is the Doctor?" 

 

Donna blinked and memories, at first jumbled, but then suddenly all too clear, settled in. She could feel the beginning of what felt like fire in her head, but for the moment it was distant. "He ain't here, sweetheart!" answered Donna as forcefully as she could muster. 

 

The Doctor looked at her in surprise but then stepped forward. "I'm right here. And I'm ending this... whatever it is... what is this, anyway?"

 

Donna stared at her in shock. When she had heard her say she was the Doctor, she hadn't expected THE Doctor she knew and travelled with. The metacrisis that still resided in her head whispered to her what regeneration was but never did he, or she, think that he'd regenerate as a woman. And then the memories connected. 

 

Susan Foreman-Campbell. 

 

Of bloody course. The portion of the metacrisis that was Ten in Donna felt as if he'd been kicked in the gut. Donna could only form a shocked, "Oh," as she looked from the Doctor to Jack and back again. 

 

Jack shrugged in that manner of his, but they noticed that the Doctor was focused on Special Agent Thomson. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

When Claude arrived, he was immediately brought up to speed. There was no sign of Section Seven in or out except for the suspicious activity in the first place. He swore loudly and then noticed a nondescript car pull up and an older man get out. He was dressed in a black suit and he walked over. "Good day, Director. My name is Special Agent Canton Delaware the Third, Section Seven. I'm your liaison... something happened... it's Thomson isn't it. Listen, she lied to you. She went rogue with a few others a few months back and we've just caught up with her now." 

 

Claude swore again, loudly, and using some words in Gallifreyan this time. "We have some of our people in there and we're going in to retrieve them. The whole op went sideways and you tell me this now?" 

 

"I'm sorry, sir, to tell the truth we trained her a bit too well. We did send her as liaison, since we was already here, but when our intelligence gathered why you would need a liaison we put two and two together. I came here from our HQ directly as fast as I could to personally apologize and offer aid, if you'll have us." 

 

"Absolutely not!" roared Claude as he turned back to the man, then calmed himself. "I do not blame you personally for this, but seeing as we are already cleaning up your mess on Canadian soil, the least you could do is leave us to it. When we apprehend her, and any accomplices, who surrender or survive, we will allow you to file for extradition. Nothing else." 

 

"Understandable, Director," said Canton. "The least I can offer is her personnel file and those of the people within. That way you know where to strike and how she'll react." 

 

This calmed down Claude considerably and he accepted the files. "Thank you, Special Agent Delaware." 

 

"No, thank you, sir." 

 

"You may stay here on the perimeter, if you wish," he said. "No more than that... as the liaison." 

 

Claude continued to put on the body armour and picked up a sidearm, and led one of the teams in himself, against the pleas of his assistant. "Sir, this is highly irregular," she stated. 

 

"Not really," said Claude. "I have field experience as well as administrative. That's why I was picked. Given the profile of the case, it's not irregular at all." 

 

The assistant sighed and conceded the point. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

**ACT SIX**

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

The Doctor was now in the same chair that Jack had occupied. Jack and Donna were now cuffed to the front crash bars on top of the bumper of the black SUV. The sonic screwdriver sat on a crate out of reach of the Doctor or Jack, or even Donna. 

 

One of the agents, which was more of a scientist, was forcing her to give up samples. When she refused, they beat her. Jack winced as if each blow on the Doctor was actually one to him. This amused Thomson. "Oh, isn't this sweet. The boyfriend and girlfriend act wasn't an act. A regular Mr. and Mrs. Smith, aren't you," she crooned sarcastically. 

 

The Doctor opened one eye, the other swollen shut from the beatings. She felt groggy from everything, and the pain was confusing. "Just let Donna go," she pleaded. 

 

"Ma'am, we can learn more at the lab," said the scientist as he took another tissue sample, ignoring the Doctor's yelp of pain. "The hard part will be smuggling her out." 

 

"Kill the other woman... and... oh... let's take a page from the others in England. Kill Harkness and encase him in cement," she ordered the others, ignoring the look of alarm on Jack's face. 

 

* * * * * * * * * 

 

Claude watched the whole thing, his stomach doing flips. He could hear the Doctor pleading for Thomson to just let Donna go, and he saw Jack and the red headed woman cuffed to the crash bars on the SUV. 

 

Jack looked beat up, but not nearly as bad, or as out of it, as the Doctor was. There was quiet orders given and then Claude heard in his earpiece, "All units in place, sir. Awaiting orders." 

 

Claude gave the order to strike. 

 

There was a distant pop and glass shattered. The scientist's head exploded out the one side as the sniper shot him through the head. Blood splattered everywhere, some of it getting on the too groggy Doctor who seemed only peripherally aware of what was going on and was still pleading for Donna's life. 

 

Thomson took cover and, hearing the Doctor, took a moment, aimed and then shot the Doctor to silence her. The Doctor fell silent with a groan, falling limply forward as she passed out. Her binds and the chair prevented her from falling to the floor, but there was no way to tell if she was alive or dead. 

 

Thomson was about to shoot Donna too, but in the brief moment of time that it took for Thomson to shoot the Doctor, Claude was already moving. He jumped forward and knocked Donna out of the way, and her head connected with the steel of the crash bars, knocking her completely unconscious. 

 

Claude wrestled desperately for the gun as the others swarmed in. Jack watched as Torchwood swept in and took down the ones who shot back. He tried to get to the Doctor, to protect her or knock her over so she was a smaller, and less likely to hit, target, but he was firmly cuffed and she was out of reach of either hands or feet. 

 

A gun went off close by and Jack jumped at the sound. Claude stepped back, clutching as his throat as the the bullet from Thomson's gun sank into the one area not protected by armour. The man fell to his knees, choking on his blood and his ruined windpipe.

 

However, now Thomson was in the open. 

 

Another distant pop signified the shot of the sniper rifle and there was a spray of blood on the hood of the SUV as Thomson slid down the side of the truck... dead... 

 

Claude collapsed down beside Donna, and Jack tried to also get to him. There was, however, nothing he could do as he watched the man in his death throes. "No..." breathed Jack. "Man down!" 

 

Claude rolled over at the sound of Jack's voice, and then... and perhaps it was the approaching burn of regeneration that made him see it... he looked at Donna and what was held within. A... a metacrisis? Time Lord in a human? It wasn't possible. Moreover, if left the way it was she'd surely die. 

 

Claude pulled Donna close and she woke up to the feel of his lips on hers. She widened her eyes, about to push him away when the metacrisis in her woke completely. She felt like she was on fire and that fire called another. 

 

The world erupted in gold fire. 

 

Jack struggled to get away from the sudden, and surprise regeneration that just happened not two feet away from him. He could see that it was Director that had initiated it. But that could only mean that he was a Time Lord... Jack grinned and then laughed out right. 

 

The Doctor picked this moment to wake up and she looked, groggily towards the not only bright explosion of light, but also very sharp explosion of psychic energy. She blinked in shock and horror. 

 

She wasn't the only one. The people of Torchwood looked on with shock and horror as well, not having the benefit of knowing was going on at all. 

 

Five minutes later, it was all over. 

 

Donna opened her eyes and looked at the man holding her. She slapped him. "Not without asking, Sunshine!" 

 

Then she realized what he did. She could remember everything and the burn, the pain and the instability... what had been killing her... it was gone. Donna understood, from the knowledge if not the memories from the Doctor, which were thankfully gone so that she was her own person again, what had happened. This other Time Lord had regenerated, and in using that energy, had healed the metacrisis. Had completed it. 

 

In his death, he had given her life. 

 

* * * * * * * * 

 

Five days later, Jack joined the other three at the rail overlooking the beach on Lake Ontario. "They swore in a new Director of Torchwood," he said, as he looked over at the new Time Lord to join them. "Seeing as Claude Vaillieux died in that warehouse." 

 

"So he did," agreed Claude. 

 

As normal when a Time Lord regenerated, he looked nothing like his last incarnation. "So, now I'm a free agent again. At least the change I wanted to happen did." 

 

"That was you who changed the policy on the Doctor," realized Jack. "Who are you?" 

 

He didn't answer but looked at the Doctor. "Didn't think we could regenerate into women." 

 

"We can't," answered the Doctor. "I'm actually Arkytior." 

 

"Ah, suddenly it all makes sense," he took a step back, and in a gesture which was a half bow with his right hand over the space between his two hearts. "A pleasure. I'm known as Drax." 

 

The Doctor stared at him and then burst out laughing, before she hugged him suddenly. "I'm glad it's another of the good ones... and a close friend of my grandfather's to boot. Jack, Donna." The Doctor turned to them, but still held on to Drax's shoulder. "This is Draxnarilyn, a Time Lord of Gallifrey. And one of my grandfather's oldest friends that is still a friend. Which was why you changed the policy on the Doctor." 

 

Drax grinned. "I couldn't let an old friend be such a large target, especially when I knew better." The grin fell off. "What happened? Where is your grandfather...?" 

 

The smile on the Doctor's face fell, and Jack's as well. Donna and Drax picked up on the change in tone. The Doctor looked at them both. "He... he died a long time ago. I took his place. I have the TARDIS, and I am the Doctor now. For all intents and purposes. Technically, that would make me Fifteen, as I have been the Doctor for two incarnations -- my last, and first one, and then this one when I regenerated -- and he died in his thirteenth." 

 

Drax looked down and away. "I am so sorry for your loss." 

 

Donna hugged her and wiped away tears. "What do you intend on doing now?" asked the Doctor to both of them. 

 

Drax looked around. "Well, I still have my TARDIS... although... I have no way to power it now that the Eye of Harmony is no more so I'm stuck here." 

 

"Grandfather figured out a way to fuel the TARDIS using rift energy," said the Doctor, and she looked over at Jack, who nodded his agreement. "There is, if you want, a rift in Cardiff. Right above Torchwood Three's hub. They rebuilt it... but I suspect you know that." 

 

Drax nodded. Jack finished, "Pete would be glad to have you. I can get him to arrange for your transport there." 

 

"It's better than nothing I suppose." 

 

Drax took the card and walked off. Jack and the Doctor looked at each and then at Donna. "Are you going to keep travelling?" asked the Doctor suddenly. 

 

Donna shrugged. "I don't know. I have my memory back and now I remember everything and all I can think is about how much I've missed. Spaceboy is dead. That's... that's so hard to believe. I still miss Shaun terribly, and now I have that fresh wound to add to it. I miss my Mum and my Granddad." 

 

"So... will you go back to travelling?" asked the Doctor pointedly. 

 

Jack blinked, catching the meaning moments before Donna did. But when she did, she froze as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her eyes widened. "Seriously?" 

 

The Doctor nodded, a small almost too hard to be seen nod, confirming it. "You'd never be able to stop me, Space Girl, and you'd best not try it!" 

 

They walked away, the three of them, down the boardwalk. 

 

Moments later the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing was heard. Drax looked up at the sound and smiled. 

 

"Cardiff, eh? Bet I can get up to trouble there just as easily..." 

 

* * * * * * * * * * 

 

**THE END**

 

* * * * * * * * * * 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy moly, I finished it! One entire season, with a special... ha!
> 
> And you can look up the locations mentioned in this chapter. They exist, and in the locations indicated. However, any people I mentioned that already don't belong to the DW/TW universe likely don't. I made them up.
> 
> If anyone has found this cool enough that they like the idea well enough to write fic based off the concept, go ahead. I'd love to see how else the same concept could be taken.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did post this on Fanfiction.Net as well, but I found this site thanks to another writer, and I like the formatting options better. I will still post to both sites, but I really, really prefer this one.


End file.
